Toy Chest Pretty Cure!
by Ryta-chan
Summary: The Laruan Kingdom is a place where humans and toys live together as the best of friends. Then one day, a woman named Lilith appears and steals the Well of Wonder, where the Kingdom derives all it's magic from! The Pretty Cure are needed to awaken and stop Lilith in her tracks. Can they save the Kingdom and all the toys in the world?
1. Prologue

Worlds away exists a land similar to our own, similar but nonetheless vastly different. This land is full of nothing but the most lush green pastures, there's almost never a cloud in the sky and every house and every building in sight is painted either a very bright or pastel shade. Those who reside here are rather joyous people, who are a lot like us who live on Earth, but there's something special about the civilians who live here. Each civilian lives with a toy from their childhood and that toy is animate; it lives with them and stays by their side.

Now, exactly how is such a thing possible you might asking yourself, well, in this world, the civilians possess something inside them called a Patchwork Heart. The Patchwork Heart is capable of many things, one of it's main purposes is to be divided into two at the certain point in the holder's life so that the other half may be given to the childhood toy. Dividing the Patchwork Heart is not painful, though it might sound otherwise, nor does it bring harm to the original holder of the Patchwork Heart. It is considered a right of passage and many, if not all who have given the other half to their Patchwork Heart feel happy that they did.

This is the Laruan Kingdom, home to all wishes and toys, where toys come to life and wishes come true. Magic flows through the kingdom, it's in the air, it runs through the veins of the inhabitants, it can be found virtually anywhere here. The magic comes from a well hidden in the forest of the outskirts in the kingdom. This well, known as the Well of Wonder is the main contributor to the magic in the kingdom the rest is found within the inhabitants.

Today was an important day in the Laruan Kingdom. It was the coronation for the Princess Arabella. In the Laruan Kingdom, when the eldest son or daughter of the King has their 20th birthday, they are to be coroneted six months later.

Arabella was feeling slightly nervous today as she got ready in her bedroom. Her long, cherry blossom pink hair had been gathered into an elaborate bun with two loose portions framing the sides of her faces. Her very large amber eyes looked into the mirror worriedly as she applied a very pale pink lipstick. She had been dreading this day for months now, while persistently telling herself that this couldn't be avoided. Everyone told Arabella that she would make an amazing queen and while she seemed like she was beginning to believe what the others had said, she still doubted herself. After all this time, she still didn't feel ready but she stopped telling others and started to bottle up her worries. Arabella had four younger sisters. There were the triplets, Justice, Felicity and Charity. All two years younger than her and all of them much chattier and outgoing than her. Arabella had always been a little jealous of her triplet sisters as they never had to be faced with the hardships that she could never escape. Then there was the youngest of the royal family, Araminta. Araminta was only twelve but Arabella always felt she her little sister was quite mature for her age. Maybe it was because she wasn't as talkative as the triplets. Arabella told herself that if anything should ever happen to her before she became queen, she would much prefer if Araminta became the next in line for the throne.

"Bella, do you need more time to get ready?" A plush indigo and pink penguin asked it poked it's head through the door.

Arabella jumped slightly, a sign that she had been majorly zoning out and looked towards the penguin plush sheepishly," I think I'm good to go Sylvia."

"Ok, I will go tell Queen Imogen." Sylvia said as she exited the room.

Arabella stared at her reflection in the mirror as a wave of negative thoughts started to swarm through her head.

 _"I'm just not ready, this is too much to ask of me. All of a sudden, this is starting to feel less like a coronation and more like a death sentence. But, this is my duty, only I can do this. What I need to do is stop feeling sorry for myself and just go for it."_

Elsewhere, a black cat was approaching the Well of Wonder. It stretched out in front of it and surveyed their surroundings quickly. It appeared nobody was in sight, not that it was likely that anyone would be here in the first place. The Well of Wonder was hard to find with the forest on the outskirts of the kingdom being so big. The cat then suddenly transformed into a woman who wore a black and grey dress with a black tiara nested into her grey hair arranged into an oddly shaped bun.

"Of course, there's not a single person to be found in the forest, especially not on the day of Princess Arabella's coronation." The woman mused to herself as she leaned against the well and looked down into it.

"Missed me?" She asked aloud as she gazed at her reflection in the water of the well," Today I shall free you of your eternal duty to provide the magic that races through the Laruan Kingdom, this day shall be your last."

The woman then removed the necklace worn around her neck and held it out above the well.

"Your magic shall be mine!"

"I change my mind, I don't want to do this anymore." Arabella said, with Sylvia sitting on the corner of the bed.

"But Arabella, haven't you wanted to be Queen your whole life? Ever since you were young you never missed a chance to tell anyone and everyone on how you were going to be Laruan Kingdom's greatest Queen and even at such a young age you-"

"Sylvia, I was a child when I said and did all of those things! I had no idea what kind of sacrifices I would have to make once I became Queen." Arabella claimed in frustration.

"What do you mean by sacrifices?" Sylvia asked before one of the royal guards entered the room.

"Princess, there's been an incident at the Well of Wonder, so your parents have decided to postpone your coronation for now." The royal guard informed her.

"Postpone?" Arabella repeated in concern.

"But this is her special day! Exactly what could be going on at the Well of Wonder that requires more attention than Princess Arabella's coronation?" Sylvia clamored.

"As of right now, I'm unable to give you any details. My apologies." The royal guard said as he left the room.

"Just who does he think he is? Keeping important information from us like that!" Sylvia said in irritation.

Arabella looked out her window as she watched her parents getting escorted into a horse-drawn carriage.

 _"Whatever's going on, it must be really serious for mom and dad to have to be present."_ Arabella thought to herself as she watched the carriage leave.

The woman was still standing over the Well of Wonder, dangling her necklace above it.

"Resist all you want, you won't be able to withstand the power of my amulet drawing in your magic." The woman said to the well before she heard the sound of horses rushing towards her.

The carriage stopped and Queen Imogen was the first to step out from the carriage, glaring towards the woman.

"Lilith, you will put an end to what you're doing right this instant and crawl back to where ever the hell you came from!" Imogen declared vehemently,"Otherwise we'll take you by force."

"Imogen, don't you realize you still don't scare me after all this time?" Lilith said flatly.

"I'm not joking around! We were all doing perfectly fine before you decided to show up again, why don't you go back to leaving all of us in the Laruan Kingdom alone? Nobody wants you around here anyways." Imogen stated patiently.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Lilith countered coyly before she noticed that the magic stopped entering her necklace," Have I already taken all of the well's magic?"

"No, there's way more magic than you can imagine that resides in the well." King Sterling said as he walked towards the Queen's side," Your necklace must have reached it's limit."

"It's...limit?" Lilith said nervously as she looked down at her necklace.

Queen Imogen and King Sterling began to walk up towards her.

"Don't worry Lilith, it's ok your plan backfired on you. If anything, it makes things a lot easier on the rest of us." Imogen said brashly.

"Backfired?" Lilith asked as she held the necklace in front of Imogen and created a dark barrier that encircled around her.

"Imogen!" Sterling shouted as Imogen attempted to break free from the barrier, with no avail.

The three of them suddenly heard another horse coming towards them. The horse slowed down and riding on top of it was Princess Arabella. She leapt off the horse and walked towards Lilith without hesitation.

"I can assume you were the one who made my parents postpone my coronation?" Arabella asked as she stared down Lilith.

"Hm, despite having parents who's magic is weak, yours is quite exceptional. Tell me, were you born with such strong magic or did you have to practice to get where you are today?" Lilith asked curiously.

"Arabella, just what is she talking about?" Imogen asked from inside the barrier.

 _"It's true. I trained in secret so I wouldn't have to rely on anyone else in the case that I would be in a situation like this. I may not be stronger than her, but I might have enough power in me to keep her occupied until the guards show up."_ Arabella thought to herself.

"So then how about we find out just who is the strongest out of the two of us?" Arabella offered as she walked closer to Lilith, putting herself between they grey-haired woman and the well.

"No need." Lilith stated tonelessly as she waved her hand in front of Arabella and made the well vanish.

Arabella took a step backwards, expecting to feel the well behind her but was startled by it's absence.

"What did you do to the well?" King Sterling shouted to Lilith.

"It's mine now! I've conjured it far away from here and now your reign has ended!" Lilith exclaimed.

 _"The well's magic can be sensed from far away because it's so strong, either she's just lying in hopes that we won't even try to look for it or she hasn't even realized that she didn't actually send it away."_ Arabella said in her head.

Imogen then broke free form the barrier," Your game stops here."

Lilith then walked over to Imogen, as a pair of black and white flames ingnited from her palms," Not yet."

Arabella then fled from the scene in search of the well. Arabella could faintly sense the presence of the well in the vicinity, it seemed as if it hadn't moved or anything. Running at break neck speed Arabella soon founding herself standing a few feet in front of the well again.

"I ran all the way to it, but...just what am I supposed to do now?" Arabella asked herself while panting. She walked closer to the well and stared down into it. The well was still full of water but, it didn't as full of magic as it usually did.

"Tell me, Well of Wonder, what needs to be done in order to restore your powers?" Arabella asked in desperation as she stared at her reflection in the well.

"Find the Pretty Cure." The well said back to her.

Arabella stared blankly at her reflection, the request definitely hadn't been one she expected. Arabella nodded and suddenly, the water in the well glowed a vibrant shade of lilac and started to suck Arabella in.

A few moments later, Imogen, Sterling and Lilith all appeared before the well.

"You didn't even take the well! You just hid it from us to make us think you were stronger than us!" Imogen yelled," Give it up Lilith, it's over."

Imogen was really starting to get on Lilith's nerves on, Imogen always acted like she was better than her, regardless of the situation she was in.

"No, I won't admit defeat to you, I'm not going to quit so easily!" Lilith declared angrily, and suddenly the well disappeared again, this time much farther away.

"Ha! This time it really is gone!" Lilith cheered," The downfall of your Kingdom starts now."

And with that, Lilith disappeared. Imogen and Sterling looked at other, both with terrified looks in their eyes.

"We need to get rid of Lilith." Imogen declared as Sterling put his arms around her for comfort.

"Wasn't this the spot that Arabella ran off to?" Sterling asked, before Imogen looked at him in panic.

"You don't think she got lost somewhere around here?" Imogen asked," You know what? You go look for her and I'll find the royal seer to figure what we should do."


	2. Cure Dolly, ready to play!

_"Here at Ikoma Highschool, our student council is formed of students who are the top of their class. Some of the members are fairly outgoing and energetic, others are much more mysterious. Each Class Rep has a pretty distinct personality, but when most of us here the words 'Student Council', we only think of three certain people."_ The voiceover for the video declared.

 _"Firstly, there's Tadashi Morino, treasurer of the student council. A super nice guy who's easily the most talkative of the council, Tadashi is always willing to listen to our concerns and help us out to the best of his abilities."_ The voice from the video described as a boy with light brown messy hair and bright cheerful green eyes appeared on the screen.

 _"Next, there's Kiriko Tenoh, the council's vice-president. She's very quiet and reserved, not to mention very mysterious. Kiriko works hard for us though and usually will try and understand where we're coming from if we have issues with something school related."_ The video showed a girl with short dark blue hair and cold, lilac eyes.

 _"Lastly, we have Hayase Mitarashi, student body president of Ikoma. Perhaps as chatty as Kiriko, Hayase is very mature and compassionate. He is always willing to give us a hand and even help us out with our homework if we really need it. And there's we have the trinity of Ikoma Highschool!"_

The video then stopped, as a girl with hair that came to her shoulders tied into pigtails stepped in front of the tv screen.

"So what did you think?" The girl asked expectantly to the other girl sitting on a chair in front of her, who was staring down at her phone uninterestedly.

"Of what?" The other girl asked boredly.

Impatiently, the girl in front of the tv marched up to her and swiped the phone from her friend's hand to see what she was looking at.

" 'Can a video be bad enough to give me pink eye'?! Some friend you are!" The girl said incredulously.

"It's a sore topic, I mean who really wants to hear about the lives of our student council, Nanae?" The girl reasoned.

"Chinami, it can be an interesting topic! There's lots to cover if I focus on the three of them, I just gotta do a bit more research is all." Nanae said in her defense," Besides, using the student council as my topic for my video project would give me the perfect opportunity to get to know Hayase~"

"You've got odd taste, considering Hayase's like two years older than you." Chinami remarked as something caught Nanae's attention in the window," What is it?"

"That's Kiriko over there!" Nanae exclaimed as they watched a girl walked past the window, looking down at her phone.

Kiriko stared down at her phone, feeling slightly annoyed as she looked at the message on her screen.

 _"Change of plans, dear. Your aunt and uncle will probably come over sometime in the next few weeks instead so we can just have the night to ourselves. Don't forget your sister's coming home from college tonight."_

"As if I just spent the last two days, worrying about how I was getting forced to sacrifice my weekend to spend time with my relatives just to find out that those plans got cancelled." Kiriko griped as she turned off her phone," This is most likely for the best though; After all, if I had to hang out with my relatives who would've undoubtedly asked me a bunch of questions about my plans after high-school after this stressful week, I probably would've had some kinda meltdown."

 _"Hayase and I had to alter some plans for the school trip fundraiser, listen to an appeal from an extremely upset student who's club idea had been rejected and take two midterms this week. What I need right now is to curl up into a ball in my bed, surrounded by my plushies."_ Kiriko thought to herself, the thought of it bringing a smile to her face.

Kiriko walked past a group of girls she recognized as her classmates. They smiled to her and some of them said 'Have a good weekend'. She smiled back tensely and said the same thing to them, feeling as if she sounded somewhat awkward in doing so.

But the girls didn't see her as awkward but rather, dignified.

"Vice-president Kiriko sure is shy, but I think it just adds to how mysterious she seems~" One of the girls remarked.

 _"I can't wait to go home, maybe I can curl up with a book and some hot chocolate."_ Kiriko thought to herself _," Ooh, and maybe I can use some of the marshmallows mom bought yesterday and put them inside! But which book should I read today? I could start on the book for my Literature class' required readings. But today's Friday, I should spend the night indulging. Maybe I'll go to the library and take out a graphic novel or maybe a picture book! Yeah, that sounds like a plan."_

Kiriko then walked to the library near to her house. As Kiriko stepped inside, she looked around the interior of the library to see if anything had changed since her last visit. Everything still seemed the exact same, which was good for her since now she could take out the books she wanted as quickly as possible and not have to worry about getting seen with them.

The library was rather quiet, which was probably to be expected. It was also very peaceful here. Only a few people could be found in the library today, most of them being middle-school students.

Kiriko walked to the area of the children's books and smiled a large smile as she looked around the section. Very young children with their mothers could be found reading here, as well as an extensive selection of books. Kiriko could spot picture books she had read when she was younger, as well as newer one that looked rather interesting at the featured section. Kiriko quickly snapped to her senses, reminding herself that she didn't have much time to spare and picked out one graphic novel and one of the picture books that was on the featured table. She smiled as she looked at the pair of books in her hands, and then suddenly heard a voice she recognized from the other side of the aisle.

Inquisitively, Kiriko inched closer to the bookshelf and saw a group of students wearing the same school uniform as her sitting at one of the tables near the computers. The only person Kiriko could recognize was the one who was speaking earlier, who was a class rep on the student council. The group appeared to consist of only first-year students. They were chatting amongst each other, a little louder than they should have been at a library, and just seemed to have been there only because the library had a few seats to spare.

"I didn't realize this place was so popular." Kiriko remarked under her breath," But, one of the librarians might tell them to be quiet if they keep it up."

"You think Saito left without us?" One of the girls asked as she scrolled though her phone, running her free hand through her long red hair. Her voice was obnoxiously loud, loud enough to get a reprimanding from one of the librarians.

"Don't you know how long it takes to get a library card?" One of the girls chided.

"He's been gone for like an hour." The redhead pointed out.

"What if he's taking a long time because he doesn't what his postal code or something?" One of the guys asked, causing a few of the girls in the group to giggle.

"No that's not it, he probably forgot the whole address!" One of the other guys exclaimed, resulting in louder laughter from the girls.

Kiriko laughed with them quietly _," They're lucky, since they're only first-years they're got nothing to worry about. They can just live without a care in the world together."_

She took one last look at them, before taking a deep breath _," Too bad my first-year wasn't like theirs."_

Kiriko went to check out her books and left. As she walked home, she stared down at the ground before her, lost in thought. She knew that she was supposed to feel excited and at the very least happy that she got new books to make her evening fun but she didn't want to stop thinking about the group of kids she saw at the library.

 _"Even though I'm still really pumped to read my new books and spend my night enjoying myself in my own company..."_ Kiriko thought to herself before she stopped walking _," It would've been nice to spend my Friday night like that. I bet they all had plans after their little trip to library too."_

"Oh gosh, what am I thinking? After all that I had to go through these last few days, the last thing I need is to be surrounded by a bunch of loud, rowdy people who probably got kicked out of the library!" Kiriko said aloud, with a forced laugh trailing after.

Just then, from the corner of her eye, Kiriko saw a flash of something bright blue race into the bushes nearby.

"Was I just seeing things...?" Kiriko wondered to herself, before she heard a voice talking to each from behind the bush. Cautiously, Kiriko tip-toed towards the bush and saw a tiny blue elephant and pink and white unicorn in conversation.

"I say we should call it a day and start searching again in the morning!" The elephant declared," We won't accomplish anything if we search around here while we're tired out. At this point, One of the Pretty Cure or Princess Arabella herself could walk right in front of us and we'd have no idea!"

"I don't care if _you're_ tired! If you wanna take a break for a little while that's fine, but at least let me keep searching!" The unicorn pleaded.

"Let you search this place all by yourself? No, not happening. You've been way too reckless scoping out these surroundings! If I hadn't been around, you would've caught by now." The elephant claimed.

 _"What's going on here? Is this supposed to be some kind of puppet show? Wait, maybe they aren't puppets, they could be animatronics. Or maybe they're not even talking at all. Maybe I'm the one who's really tripping out here."_ Kiriko thought to herself in a panic.

"Honestly, Nova! You've had zero tact and haven't even tried to hide your presence ever since we've came here!" The elephant griped," I can't even begin to tell you how many I've had to cover for you without you even realizing it, you've been consistently taking needless risks and not to mention-"

"-Hey at least I'm not the one who started talking in front a human." Nova pointed out.

"I did no such thing-!" Rani defended before she noticed Kiriko staring at them in mid-sentence.

The elephant and the unicorn gawked at Kiriko, who looked at them awkwardly as she offered them a very forced smile.

"Um, hi?" Kiriko greeted stiffly.

"We've been caught!" The elephant wailed before it started pacing around in a circle," Oh dear, not even a whole day has passed since we've and we already been found! Oh, what will the King and Queen think of us now?"

"Hey it's ok! Uh, I'm sure it'll be alright. I'm Kiriko by the way" Kiriko said,

"I'm Rani." The elephant said bashfully.

"Nova." The unicorn introduced.

Kiriko smiled politely to the two of them, though she had about a dozen of other questions that she'd rather ask the duo right now. Despite the fact that she was bewildered by them, she also felt sorry for them, especially Rani who had been looking awfully uneasy this entire time.

"Would you be able to tell me what happened? Just if you want somebody to vent to." Kiriko offered as she crouched down next to them.

Rani merely shook her head as she said,"My apologies, we really shouldn't-"

"We come from a land far away from here, it's called the Laruan Kingdom." Nova said," It's a real nice place. Lots of pastel colours, and magic, at least there w _as_ a lot of magic."

"What do you think you're doing?!" Rani yell-whispered to the unicorn.

"She's already seen us. No going back now." Nova declared.

"What an absolutely boring place!" A man with red and black hair remarked, standing on top of a bench nearby Kiriko, the elephant and the unicorn," No toys running around, no bright colours, and not a single trace of magic."

The man sat down on the bench's table cross-legged and sighed to himself," If I had to name the dullest place I've ever been to in my whole entire no-good life, I'd definitely pick this place." The man seemed to be in his late-twenties and was clad in clothes in shades of red and black. He wore a red sleeveless jacket that was checkered on the inside with gold buttons and trimming with a grey vest underneath, and red and gold shorts. He also had a scar over his left eye and a beauty mark underneath his mouth. His appearance garnered him dozens of strange looks from passerbys, but he paid no heed to them.

"Lili's got odd tastes..." The man stated to himself.

 _"In order to make our own kingdom, I want to collect magic from the human world and reap out magic from the humans." Lilith declared to the three before her._

 _"But you already got a boatload of magic from the well of wonder back at Laruan Kingdom, so why not put it to use?" The man in red and black questioned._

 _"Jack, it's not enough." Lilith stated impatiently," I'm going to need a near infinite amount of energy to create my very own kingdom. Once the magic from Laruan Kingdom has all run out, the inhabitants will have no choice but to follow me and make me their Queen."_

 _"But why seek out magic in the humans here when they don't have any to begin with?" One of the other figures asked._

 _Lilith shook her head," They do have magic. It's very, very faint, but it exists within them. It's an impressionable type that flows through their Patchwork Hearts. It can be swayed by love or driven into darkness. We want to harvest all the hateful energy they harbor and make it our own."_

 _Lilith then looked towards Jack," You will be the first go out and collect. Take this."_

 _Lilith tossed a vial that glow a shimmery neon red with black liquid inside as she said," Don't disappoint me."_

Jack reached into his shirt and took out the red vial Lilith had given to him. It was now strung onto a chain and glowed vibrantly, as if hinting to Jack to use it right now. Jack saw a group of kids sitting near a tree, playing with their toys.

"Guess it's now or never!" Jack exclaimed as he opened up the vial and let the contents inside it spill out. It was like some sort of poisoned cloud that was quick to affect the nearby children. The children who were full of life and energetic just moments ago, suddenly seemed very unhappy, and some of them started to cry. The cloud then manifested into a very dark red sphere above the children.

Jack then pointed to a nearby polaroid camera lying in the grass, and shouted," Do your worst, Defective!"

The sphere then merged with the camera and the camera grew ten times in size and gained a pair of arm and legs. A face with a very angry expression form on the camera and it shouted," Defective!"

"Did you guys hear that?" Kiriko asked, just before Nova was going to explain herself.

"I think it must have something to do with Lilith!" Rani clamored, with Nova nodding in response while Kiriko appeared to be confused.

"Who's Lilith?" Kiriko asked.

"We'll explain later, right now we have to get out of here!" Nova urged just before she was going to make a run for it.

"No! We can't let Lilith pollute this world too! We need to go and confront her right away!" Rani commanded, leaving Nova looking very befuddled.

"What?! But we don't stand a chance right now! If only the two of us going up against her, we'd get obliterated in seconds! Right now our only chance of survival is to leave while we can in hopes that we'll find one of the Pretty Cures on our way." Nova explained.  
"And just where do you plan on running off to?" Rani questioned impatiently.

Nova had a blank look on her face and then shook her head, just as she was about to say something, Kiriko then intervened.

"Hey what if that wasn't Lilith we heard just now? Maybe there's a movie shoot or something going on nearby?" Kiriko suggested.

"Movie...shoot?" The two fairies repeated in confusion, with Rani saying afterwards," Either way, whatever it was, it sounded like trouble! We need to find out what's going on!"

"I agree, I say we go with Rani's plan and see what happened." Kiriko declared as she picked up the two fairies and started to run towards where the noise came from.

"Rani, this is crazy! We can't let a human girl get involved with this! Suppose Lilith really is there, what will we do if she decides to fight against Kiriko, a weak human with no powers?" Nova asked Rani.

"You know I can hear you right?" Kiriko asked as she continued to run," Whoever this Lilith is, she sure sounds like a real pain in the neck! I'm going to discuss things with her and see I can negotiate something for you guys."

Nova shook her head, in denial of what she was hearing, as she said quietly to herself," She's got no idea what she's in for."

Kiriko stopped dead in her tracks as she laid her eyes on the Defective right before her. It was enormous, it towered over her and all the buildings around it, destroying everything in it's path.

"Just what in the world is that thing?" Kiriko asked as she stared at the Defective, pupils shrunk in fear.

"Oh look, we've got a guest." Jack said, sprawled out on the table of the bench he was sitting on before. It was a mystery how it was still in tact," Would you like to join in on the fun?"

"Exactly what is he talking about?" Kiriko asked the fairies quietly, her gaze still on the Defective.

"This is part of Lilith's doing, it _has_ to be!" Rani said as she and Nova jumped out of Kiriko's arms," Kiriko, you make a run for it, we'll handle this!"

"I highly doubt that." Kiriko said to herself flatly.

The fairies glared at Jack, with Nova shouting," We won't let you get away with this! We'll do whatever it takes to stop you!"

"Too bad I don't have any popcorn on hand because I'd love to watch you two try and defeat this bad boy." Jack said as he leapt up towards a tree next to the Defective.

"Where's Lilith? Is she too scared to step foot here in the human world?" Rani asked, attempting to put on a brave front with little avail.

"Lilith has made the decision to go incognito for a bit." Jack explained,"I've been working under her this entire time to fulfill this mission and this mission only. The name's Jack, a member of Asperity."

"That rotten woman..." Rani muttered angrily.

Kiriko continued to watch this spectacle before her. Was it something that she has zero involvement in? Probably, but was that going to stop her from trying to be of help to these two fairies she just met? Most likely not.

"What makes you think fighting will get you anywhere?" Kiriko then asked Jack, as a very unimpressed look appeared on her face," If you two have come to some sorta disagreement, shouldn't you guys just try to work it out in a more civil manner? Fighting like this will only make things worse for the both of you."

Jack seemed intrigued and jumped down from the tree, walking over towards Kiriko," Civil manner? The Laruan kingdom is anything but civil, it's nation is run by ignorant fools with weak hearts. Their demise is what they deserved."

"If they're the ones who are so uncivil, then how come you're the one wreaking havoc in a world that has virtually nothing to do with your dispute?" Kiriko interrogated, not missing a beat," From what I can tell, it seems like there had been some tension between you guys and this kingdom brewing for awhile or something for you guys to be-"

"I'm tired of listening to you, you had my attention, now you'll fuel my Defective." Jack declared with a large grin appearing on his face as the Defective tried to grab Kiriko. Kiriko barely dodged and fell on the ground.

"You're a complete and total jerk, you know that?" Kiriko said in frustration as she stood back up," You're tired of me? Well I'm tired of you acting all high and mighty with your stupid big monster and picking on these two!"

"Do I have to be the one to remind that you've got nothing to do with this?" Jack questioned, as the Defective reached for her again.

"That may be true, but that won't keep me from protecting Rani and Nova." Kiriko declared determinedly.

Jack rolled his eyes as he said," How noble, let's see how well you can protect them then. Defective! Go for the runts instead."

The Defective did as told and went straight for the fairies.

"Rani! Nova!" Kiriko cried as the fairies attempted to evade the Defective's attack, though it appeared it wasn't going to work. Kiriko stood still for a moment, trying to figure out what she should do. Jack was right, Kiriko didn't need to be here and fight against him in a battle she was almost positive she had no chance in winning but still, those two fairies were here all by themselves in this foreign land with no one to rely on. No one but Kiriko.

Kiriko then ran at breakneck speed towards Rani and Nova, who seemed even more distressed now that Kiriko was heading towards them.

"Kiriko, we told you to run away from here!" Nova reminded her as she and Rani were running from the Defective.

"I'm not leaving you two behind! You might not want me to, but I'm going to help you guys in any way I can." Kiriko shouted to them. The Defective then lunged for the fairies and then Kiriko jumped towards them.

"I'm going to protect you guys, no matter what!" Kiriko shouted and just then, a tremendously blinding bright lilac light appeared and kept the Defective away from them.

"What the heck's going on?" Jack asked, squinting towards the lilac light.

Kiriko was inside the light, looking very dazed as she saw a pink, purple and tan compact right in front of her, along with Rani.

"What happened?" Kiriko asked as she looked around. Not a single soul could be found here except for herself and Rani.

"Kiriko, you're a Pretty Cure! You're one of the people we have been looking for!" Rani exclaimed excitedly," This is your PlayPact. Open it up and say, 'Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!' "

"A Pretty Cure? Exactly what is that and what's going to happen when I...?" Kiriko then trailed off, knowing that this was urgent," If I do that, I'm guessing I'll become stronger somehow, and then I can help you guys get rid of that, that thing?"

Rani nodded quickly, as Kiriko said," Well, here goes nothing, Pretty Cure, it Playtime!"

The light around Kiriko turned even brighter, and now only Kiriko was immersed in the light. Her body was shimmery and all of a sudden, a purple and white overall dress with light pink and white frills at the bottom appeared in the place of her uniform. Underneath her dress she wore a very pale beige button -up shirt. Next, a pair of purple fingerless gloves and light pink knee-jerk high socks appeared on her hands and legs. She tapped her feet against the ground and a pair of lilac shoes with straps and bows had appeared on her feet, along with a large pale pink bow on the back of her dress. Kiriko then put her hands over her chest and a pink bow with a dark purple brooch in the shape of a diamond appeared. Finally, she twirled around and her short dark blue hair grew all the way down to her thighs and turned platinum blonde. A portion of her hair was gathered into a bun whole the rest was kept down. Two shorter portions of her hair framing her face were curled and secured with little pink bows at the bottom of them. Kiriko then opened her eyes at last, revealing them to be the same lilac colour they always were.

Kiriko struck a pose and then announced, "The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"I'm going to put an end to all this, right now." Cure Dolly declared, glaring at Jack.

Jack, Rani and Nova all stared at Cure Dolly in complete shock, moments before Cure Dolly snapped to her senses and looked down at herself. Only now she had just noticed her normal clothes were missing, and her hair now cascaded to her waist. Cure Dolly was as quiet as a mouse before she asked aloud,

"Where did this dress come from?"

"Cure Dolly, you don't have time to worry about that! You've gotta go fight that Defective!" Rani shouted, as the Defective started to march towards the three of them.

"All by myself?!" Cure Dolly shouted incredulously," Well, I was the one who said I would protect you guys. But what am I supposed to do? Sure I got a new dress and hairstyle but it's not like I suddenly got ten times stronger or anything-"

Just then, the Defective leaned and was about to take a hold of Cure Dolly. Terrified and out of sheer impulse, Cure Dolly screamed very loudly. She screamed louder than she usually did, even when she was scared and her scream was so loud, it forced the Defective and Jack to cover their ears.

Cure Dolly looked at the two of them blankly before realizing that she was the one who made the two of them clasp their ears.

"Kiriko as a Pretty Cure, you now have powers! All of your normal skills have become stronger, from how hard your punches are to how loud you scream. You can now fight against this Defective and win!"

"Is that so?" Dolly commented quietly, just before the Defective began to charge towards her again.

Cure Dolly looked rather impatient as the giant monstrous camera darted towards her. It looked like it was ready to punch, but Dolly was quick to react and leapt up immediately and instead punched the Defective, sending it a few feet backwards.

"What is this, some sorta of mutation?" Cure Dolly asked warily as she opened and closed her left fist.

"That's not a mutation, that's a gift! Your wish to protect had been granted through the gift of immense strength and agility, as well as the ability to use magic." Rani explained.

"Exactly what do you mean by magic?" Cure Dolly questioned curiously," You know what? I'll ask about this later."

Cure Dolly then ran towards the Defective and then pondered her next move. She had never done anything quite like this before and while it felt like a somewhat daunting, intimidating task to defeat this Defective, it felt somewhat liberating. While Cure Dolly didn't want to admit it, throwing that first punch gave her an adrenaline rush like none other. The idea that she was getting a thrill from exciting disturbed her though and she figured she'd have to reevaluate her own motives later.

The Defective rose up, and tried to step on Cure Dolly, but she instead jumped as high as she could as drove a kick into the Defective. The Defective laid dormant for a few moments before it stood back up again. Cure Dolly opened her eyes wide, trying to plan her next move.

 _"This thing sure can take a lot of damage, but then again, it's not like it's received that much damage to begin with. What I should do is wear it out, then hit it's weak spot!"_ Dolly thought to herself _," Am I seriously doing this? Do I actually think I stand a chance against this thing? Wait, I can't be thinking this way at a time like this! So the weak spot, just where would that be?"_

Cure Dolly examined the Defective, and then an idea came into her head as she quietly said to herself," That might work!"

"What are you doing just standing around? I didn't create you from nothing just so you could stare at them!" Jack lamented. The Defective then returned to fighting against Cure Dolly and Dolly was now appearing more willing to fight against the Defective. She ran up to it and the Defective leaned down slightly as it was running.

Cure Dolly assumed it was going to try and grab her again so she leapt up, but the Defective had tricked her and instead reached for her in midair and grabbed her by the leg.

"Shoot, I was too careless!" Cure Dolly said to herself as she tried to pull herself free from the Defective's grip.

The Defective then flung her into a tree. As she collided with the tree, she felt her head ache and the rest of her body was hit with a great amount of pain. She winced at the feeling of it and glared at the Defective.

"I guess my pain tolerance is still the same." Dolly remarked with a sigh before she stood up again," I'll just have to be more careful then."

Dolly's body was shaking like a leaf, she had yet to recover from the collision completely but she continued to fight without hesitation.

"Is that the best you've got?" Dolly asked smugly as she dashed towards the Defective.

The Defective readied itself to block whatever attack Dolly had in store for it. To it's surprise, it seemed like Cure Dolly wasn't going to do anything as she continued to run towards it. Then, just as she got close enough to the Defective, she kicked it up into the sky. The kick was powerful, but not powerful enough to send the Defective hundreds of feet into the air. In fact, the Defective wasn't in the air long enough to realize what had just happened before it hit the ground.

Cure Dolly looked towards the Defective, unwilling to move, as she thought to herself _," It would've have been better if I kicked him up higher, that way the fall would've been way harder. But, I couldn't have risked having the Defective attempt to deliver an attack in midair."_

The Defective stood up once more, and Cure Dolly stepped backwards. She then realized that she was right in front of a tree and that she had been cornered. The Defective seized it's opportunity and pinned Dolly to the tree with it's large hand.

"I've seen more than enough. For a Pretty Cure, you're painfully weak." Jack said as he finally jumped down from the tree and onto the Defective's arm.

Jack walked along it's arm and once he got to the Defective's wrist, he knelt down and looked Dolly dead in her eyes saying," I'm almost feel bad for you."

"Who asked you to?" Dolly said as she fought to break free from the Defective's grip _," At this rate, I won't stand a chance in beating this guy and this big, stupid, camera monster!"_

Dolly was completely unable to move in the Defective's grip, the most she could do was wiggle her fingers and feet around. It didn't seem like she was going to have much time either before Jack would decide to use her to bring more power to his Defective. Dolly was running out of ideas quickly and then as a last resort, she looked towards Rani and Nova for any suggestions.

Rani was opening her mouth wide and Nova was giving her a thumbs up. Dolly narrowed her eyes, quite unsure of what they were trying to say. After a few seconds, it came to her.

Cure Dolly set her gaze on the Defective with determination in her eyes and said slowly," As protector of the Laruan Kingdom and Pretty Cure of wishes, I demand you let me go right this instant!"

Though the yell wasn't as loud as the previous one, it was enough for the Defective to clamp it's ears shut again.

"You moron! You just let her go!" Jack shouted vehemently.

Dolly landed on her feet and she wasted no time as she ran towards the camera Defective and kicked it right in the lens. The lens shattered and the Defective fell backwards, unable to move another inch.

"Cure Dolly, now's your chance!" Nova shouted to her.

"To do what?" Cure Dolly asked, looking rather confused as she kept an eye on the Defective.

"You have to purify it in order to completely defeat it!" Rani explained," Concentrate and focus your flow of magic, then channel all that power towards it."

"I...I don't quite understand but, I'll give it my best shot!" Dolly declared.

She shut her eyes and cleared her mind, trying to do as Rani instructed her to. The atmosphere around her then turned into a very pale and bright lilac and pink shade, with only her and the Defective here.

"Pretty Cure, Wishing Enchant!" Cure Dolly shouted. The Defective was met with about a thousand white, lilac and pink shimmery lights and then the Defective reverted back into it's original form.

"I'll get her next time." Jack decided, his tone bitter as he disappeared.

Rani and Nova then rushed towards Cure Dolly, appearing to be extremely happy as they approached her.

"Kiriko, you did amazing out there!" Rani gushed with Nova nodding in agreement.

Dolly then detrasformed, back into Kiriko. She stretched her hand up to the sky and stared at it in disbelief as she said,

"I really did all that?"

Kiriko came back to her senses in an instant and said to the two fairies," Now, how about we get back to you guys explaining yourselves?"


	3. I would but I'm busy

The three of them went to Kiriko's house, since Kiriko decided it'd be a much better plan to have them finish their story in privacy.

"So what's really going on?" Kiriko asked, cross-legged on her bed, sitting opposite of Rani and Nova. The two of them seemed to be preoccupied as they took in their surroundings. Somehow, Kiriko's room felt just like home to them. The lavender walls reminded them of the buildings in the kingdom, her cozy pastel rainbow quilt reminded them of their home's sky and all of Kiriko's plushies arranged neatly on her bed made them think of all of the toys that lived in the Laruan Kingdom. Kiriko had taken off her uniform and switched into something she considered more comfortable. Her hair was tied up into a small, messy bun, and she wore a white shirt with pastel pink and blue hearts on it with blue shorts.

Rani and Nova definitely weren't expecting this, but they were pleasantly surprised to see all of this.

Kiriko gave them a peculiar look, and then Nova said," We were just caught off-guard. I guess we thought you'd have a much different type of bedroom."

"Do all human dormitories look like this? It feels just like home!" Rani remarked in delight as she continued to look around Kiriko's room.

"Doubtful." Kiriko answered sheepishly," So, as you guys were saying back there, you're from a far away kingdom. It's nothing like Earth and...?"

"It all started a very long time ago." Rani explained," The Laruan Kingdom was under the protection of a great Pretty Cure named Cure Cheer. Cheer was powerful both physically and magically, virtually no one stood a chance against her. She was said to be very mysterious though, no one in the kingdom knew her personally. She had never once lost a battle until Lilith appeared. Lilith was a pure evil woman with a heart of stone who tried to claim the Kingdom as her own and force all of the civilians out in the human world. Cure Cheer defeated her, but winning against Lilith cost Cure Cheer her life. Lilith was not heard of for many years, until recently."

"It began on the day of Princess Arabella's coronation." Nova began slowly," Everyone in the Kingdom was invited to celebrate the event. That was day where Lilith had returned to try and claim the Kingdom. This time though, instead of fighting the members of the kingdom head on, she went for the Well of Wonder. The Well was the main supplier of magic throughout our kingdom. It gave life to our land, it rejuvenated the people without anyone even realizing it and just as soon as Lilith got her hands on it, she took it away along with Princess Arabella."

"We need to bring an end to Lilith, reclaim the Well and find Princess Arabella." Rani stated firmly, awaiting a response from Kiriko.

The two fairies looked at her expectantly and Kiriko replied hesitantly, avoiding their implied question with," So you believe Princess Arabella has been kidnaped by Lilith?"

"We think so, yes. Arabella's magic was strong, but no one ever knew this until Lilith pointed it out. Most of us in the kingdom believe that Lilith must have abducted Princess Arabella in order to use her powers for her own evil purposes."

"What else makes your home different from mine?" Kiriko questioned idly.

Nova's patience was wearing thin, but she kept herself from saying so while Rani answered for the both of them.

"The Laruan Kingdom is overflowing with magic. Everyone has very strong and energetic Patchwork Hearts," Rani said, receiving a questionable look from Kiriko," The Patchwork Heart is the heart where you feel desires from, the heart that you make wishes and dream with. The Patchwork Heart is where our magic resides, and we can achieve many things with them. One of the most significant things being that everyone in the kingdom is able to divide their Patchwork Heart in two; holding onto to one half for themselves and the other will be given to the original holder's most favourite toy."

The sound of that really enticed Kiriko, she made this evident as her eyes widened greatly but, she didn't make any comment on this. Instead, she continued to interrogate the fairies.

"So, only people from your world have these Patchwork Hearts?" Kiriko asked in a curious voice.

"No, everyone has one! Even those of you who live in this world, it's just that...you guys have no idea they exist." Rani explained," We were told that in the human world, you guys live in ignorance of the Patchwork Heart's existence. And that your magic is relatively low, is that true?"

Kiriko's eyes widened, somewhat unsure of exactly how to respond," I guess, I mean...I don't think I know anyone here who can use magic freely."

"Except for yourself." Nova reminded her curtly.

"Oh yeah, I guess I count now..." Kiriko commented awkwardly _," I can use magic freely? It's weird, I figured I would've felt differently or something but no. I don't really feel a thing. Does this mean my magic is just that weak?"_

"So Kiriko, we have explained ourselves to you, and now all that's left is for you to make the choice; Will you continue to fight as a Pretty Cure to defeat Asperity?" Rani offered expectantly.

"This is like some kind of long-term task, right? Meaning, this will inevitably change my life. I...I'm not sure if I should." Kiriko confessed with a sigh as she shook her head.

Rani was looking quite distressed now and Nova just appeared to be even more impatient.

"But Kiriko, I don't understand! Rani clamored in a frantic tone," You have been chosen to fight in order to protect our kingdom! Where we're from this is considered a great honor!"

"So they why did you ask me then? You said make a choice." Kiriko pointed out sternly.

"Well, I didn't expect you to say no!" Rani replied," Please Kiriko, as of right now, you're our only hope! Why don't you want to be a Pretty Cure?"

"It's not that I don't want to," Kiriko began quietly," It's just that, well...I've got prior obligations."

"Like what?" Nova questioned in agitation.

"I've got school, and then cram school on Monday through Wednesday after class, student council meetings on Thursday and then I work weekends." Kiriko listed off in an oddly nonchalant tone, while the two fairies seemed overwhelmed from just hearing Kiriko's schedule." What, I'm a busy girl."

Nova noticed that Kiriko sounded a bit bitter as she said that, but said nothing of it.

Rani then sighed a rather large sigh and stated," We understand that you're busy, but...is there anyway that you can still help us? I really don't want to beg, but when I said you're our only hope, I really meant it. We don't get to choose who becomes a Pretty Cure."

Kiriko stayed quiet for a little while and thought to herself _," They don't have any intention of leaving me alone at this point. It's endearing, but it's unfair. I could easily just refuse them again, but...I don't want to."_

"Wait, so I'm just supposed to fight all by myself?" Kiriko wondered aloud.

"Of course not!" Rani answered," You'll have teammates you'll fight alongside, and you'll be their leader!"

"Rani, you're being too loud." Kiriko stated in a deadpan tone as she clasped Rani's mouth shut," But, if I do get to have teammates then..."

A shiver crawled down Kiriko's spine all of a sudden and she felt her heart begin to race _," Why do I feel so anxious all of a sudden?"_

"...I might join you guys, ok?"

Kiriko then spent the rest of her night doing what she wanted to do and curled under in her blankets reading the graphic novel she checked out from the library. Rani and Nova stayed in her room, they fell fast asleep on a pair of pillows she had laid out on her ottoman. Kiriko took a short break from her reading and reached for the cup of hot chocolate laying on her side table. The hot chocolate was quite rich and just one taste of it brought a big smile to Kiriko's face.

"This is heaven~" Kiriko exhaled as she hugged her softest plushy.

"I'm glad I got to spend tonight as planned." Kiriko said quietly to herself, her eyes growing heavy," I'm not really unable to unwind like this anymore. I was only lucky this week because not much homework had been assigned."

Kiriko then thought about those kids that she saw earlier today in the library, who seemed to have been enjoying themselves not because they were at the library but because they were in each other's company.

"I could only wish to spend my Friday afternoons like that. Sure, spending the night in with a good book is fun and all but...whenever I get free time, that's all I do." Kiriko said to herself," The worst part of it all is that I pretend to be ok with it. I act like I'm someone I'm not because I get worried that everyone will judge me. Everyone likes to see me as mature and reserved, maybe even mysterious but the truth is..."

Kiriko looked at her bedroom, her so-called "Pastel Palace" and sighed," I'm not like that at all."

"I'm childish, sleep with a dozen plushies and would probably wear my hair in pigtails with a really cute pastel outfit every single day if I could." Kiriko confessed aloud," But because I'm always acting like how people expect me to, I feel as if I've locked myself into a personality. I feel like everyone has expectations of me."

Kiriko finished her cup of hot chocolate and laid down in her bed," It's better like this though, I'm ok with people seeing me as mature and mysterious. I guess I just wish it didn't always have to be like this."

The next morning, Kiriko had to wake up at six am. As soon as her alarm went off, Kiriko extended her hand towards the clock and turned it off in an instant. She rose out of bed in seconds and only then just noticed that her alarm had greatly startled Rani and Nova.

"T-t-there was a loud ringing sound coming from that device, Kiriko!" Rani stammered,"It woke Nova and I up!"

"That's what it's supposed to do." Kiriko informed them neutrally as she picked up the clothes of her uniform and headed straight to the showers.

After Kiriko came out from the shower, she put on an ivory shirt with tan and green stripes on it with tan slacks on. Her hair was gathered into a tiny ponytail and she wore a nametag. She then took her backpack and put a change of casual clothes inside.

"Kiriko, where are you going at this hour in the morning?" Nova asked with a yawn.

"Work, I thought I told you two I work weekends." Kiriko answered as she zipped up her bag," Do you guys want to come with me?"

"Only if we're going to search for more Pretty Cure!" Rani declared firmly.

 _"If I leave the two of them here, my parents might find them. So, it'd probably be best to bring them along."_ Kiriko thought to herself," Uh, yeah sure."

Kiriko then stuffed the two of them in her bag and headed out the door for work.

Hours later, Kiriko could be found behind a cash register waiting around. She was at a reasonably large cafe that was populated with a decent amount of . Many people here were having breakfast with friends, family, business associates. It had been busier earlier but the cafe had fallen quiet for now. The cafe's name was Echo and it was a fairly popular cafe. It was home to some of the best sandwiches in town and their coffee was very rich in flavour. At the front of the cafe was Kiriko and the cash register for take-out, next to her was a bell and a sign that read 'Please wait to be seated'. The guests seemed to have been enjoying themselves at the cafe today as they chatted amongst each other and with some of the waiters and waitresses.

Kiriko looked behind her and watched her fellow associates take the orders of guests who just came in.

Kiriko paid close attention to one waitress talking to a family at one of the tables. The guests seemed to really liked being served by her, not because she was pretty or anything (though her tall slender figure, long blonde hair and bright brown eyes did make her quite attractive) but rather because she seemed to be having a good time taking their order.

"Yuna's only been working here a couple of weeks, but she's gotten good at this job." Kiriko remarked quietly.

One of the associates came to relieve Kiriko so she could go on break.

Kiriko went to get her lunch from the cafe's backroom and found Rani and Nova looking at her very impatiently in her backpack. Kiriko looked both ways to ensure that no one was around. No one else was in the vicinity except for the three of them.

Kiriko then said quietly," I'm sorry."

" You should be!" Nova responded, louder than Kiriko expected, which led Kiriko to hush her. Nova then lowered her voice, " Keeping us cooped up in your backpack for hours when we could've been using this time to look for the next Pretty Cure."

Kiriko then drew out a deep breath and said, " I guess I should've mentioned this first but work is important to me. I can help you guys out after but you really need to understand I've got prior obligations, so I'm not always available to help you guys out."

Rani then interjected with, " But-!"

"Fine, then can we at least start searching on our own?" Nova suggested.

Kiriko didn't seem too fond of the idea, leading Nova to continue with, " You already said you're busy and we want to help you out by searching for the next Pretty Cure, your future teammate. We don't feel so pleased sitting around being unproductive like this, knowing that we could be putting good use of our time."

Kiriko appeared to be reconsidering the idea now. Nova was making a good point, Kiriko hadn't really thought about how their Pretty Cure mission was an obligation to them.

"The thing is, I'm just worried you guys might get lost while looking." Kiriko explained.

"We'll be ok! And if we do start to feel like we're going to get lost, We'll just come back here! We won't go too far, promise!" Nova reassured excitedly.

"Alright, just don't be gone for too long! And be discreet, pretend to be a stuffed animal or something if someone comes too close. Also, try not to be seen by little kids, they might wanna try and take you home. And when you want to come back, please don't let any of my coworkers see you!" Kiriko instructed in a near frantic voice, hoping she had listed every warning possible.

Rani and Nova then left Kiriko's bag in an instant and Kiriko held open the back door for them.

"We'll be back soon!" Nova called out, while Kiriko silently hoped no one had heard her.

"I've got such a bad feeling about this." Kiriko said to herself.

Rani and Nova started to search around the tiny neighborhood near the cafe. It was quiet enough that Rani and Nova could walk about freely on the grass next to the pavement.

"Nova, that was amazing what you did back there!" Rani remarked in admiration, "Where did you learn to do such a thing?"

"it's called the art of persuasion." Nova answered smugly," All I had to do was show Kiriko our side of the situation and as soon as I did she couldn't say no. Kiriko might seem strict right now but I think she can be an easy target to convince."

Rani nodded in agreement and then said," You know, I really do like Kiriko, but her schedule doesn't give her a break. She might really have a rough time trying to juggle her activities and being a Pretty Cure. Why does she need even to work anyways? Isn't she just a high-school student?"

"Maybe she's in debt. She could be making excuses though." Nova suggested, receiving a look of question from Rani," I'm not talking about work or school but all of those extra-curriculars she mentioned to us. There's no way she was already that busy."

"I don't know, I think Kiriko appears to be an honest girl." Rani claimed, though even she unsure of her own statement," I don't really think Kiriko doesn't want to help us, it's just that she really isn't in a position to. But then that does beg the question, why does she even have such a busy schedule? Surely not every person her age here has that many obligations. I think I'd feel really bad for her if she would have to add Pretty Cure into her routine.

"I guess it is a bit unfair." Nova replied, " But it doesn't matter, soon enough, she'll have to make a choice. If Cure Cheer had to, then so will she."

Kiriko was in the backroom at the cafe, munching away at the sandwich she brought for lunch. Earlier she had been worrying about Rani and Nova, but she decided to put that thought away for now and think about more pressing issues.

Kiriko scrolled through her phone absent-mindedly as she thought to herself.

" _If I'm lucky, those two will have stayed out of trouble. If I'm extremely, lottery-winning lucky then they will have found my new partner so I won't have to hear them gripe about it after my shift. I may have told them that I'd help them search later, but I forgot all about that Science group project I was supposed to get started on this weekend. Maybe I could put it off until tomorrow?"_

In the window of the backroom door, Kiriko saw Yuna walked by. Kiriko then resumed her phone-scrolling, only now she seemed to have a more uneasy look in her eye.

" _Yuna has only been working here for about two weeks here and all the guests love her. But she's aloof and somewhat cold to those of us who work here."_ Kiriko surveyed in her head _," Maybe she's just shy? That wouldn't really explain why she can talk to the guests the way she does."_

"She must be a very good actress or something." Kiriko concluded while eating her sandwich.

"Tenoh, are you back from break yet?" Kiriko's supervisor asked as he entered the backroom.

"I've got five minutes left." Kiriko answered. Her supervisor then made a call in the backroom and Kiriko then continued to eat her lunch.

She started to eat some chocolate chip cookies she put in her lunch bag. Her face lit up at the sight of them and she wasted no time in eating them. Kiriko then started to think about what Nova said to herself when she bargained for her and Rani to go and search for the next Pretty Cure.

'Your future teammate', the words both excited and frightened Kiriko. The idea of turning into a magical girl with platinum blonde hair was strange enough, bur to know that there would be others who would share the same fate as her? Somehow, that was even stranger. It still all felt like a wild dream to her, but every time she saw Rani and Nova again, and every time she came across the PlayPact in her bag, she was instantly brought back to reality, reminding herself that this was no dream.

"I wonder when that guy Jack from Asperity will appear again..." Kiriko said aloud, her voice sounding somewhat anxious.

Rani and Nova were on their way back to the cafe. Having had a rather uneventful and fruitless adventure in search of the second Pretty Cure, they felt as if they had enough excitement for the day. After nearly being 'abducted' by a pair of twins, being chased around by a giant golden retriever and almost getting hit by a bicycle, the two fairies surmised that the human world was _way_ more dangerous than they had realized and if they really wanted to remain unharmed in this place, they'd stopped looking around these areas with such hazards.

"I wanna take a nap..." Rani groaned in an exhausted voice as she and Nova struggled to walk towards the cafe.

"I second that..." Nova declared, sounding just as tired as Rani.

Rani then bumped into someone, but was way too tired to even feel panicked and just stepped backwards clumsily, not even looking up to see who she had bumped into.

"Funny bumping into you two here." An awfully familiar voice said to Rani.

Rani really hoped her ears were playing tricks on her as she heard this voice and looked up cautiously only to find Jack towering over her and Nova.

Kiriko was leaning against the counter where the cash register was, the cafe had gotten quiet again. Kiriko looked outside the cafe's windows, taking note of the fact that it had gotten rather windy today.

"I hope those two have already came back, the last thing I'd want is for them to get literally blown too far away from the cafe." Kiriko said to herself quietly while she organized the debit rolls underneath the counter.

"Whoa take a look at that fan over there, it's bigger than our house!" A little girl sitting at one of the tables remarked in astonishment.

"It's probably not that big dear-" The little girl's father reassured before he saw the fan,"-Wow, that fan really is huge! Wouldn't mind having one of those at our place during the summer."

Kiriko then saw the fan the two of them were talking about, only to find out that it was a Defective walking about with a long cord dragging behind it, blowing strong gusts of wind with every step it took.

 _"Oh great, I gotta go do something to stop this Defective, but I can't just walk out of the cafe and start fighting!"_ Kiriko lamented to herself. Kiriko then caught a glimpse of a guest talking on their phone at their table.

"Hey there's an idea!" Kiriko thought to herself. Kiriko then took out her phone and pretended to be on a call.

"Why are you calling me at this hour, you know I had work today!" Kiriko said in a voice that was quiet, but not too quiet to go unnoticed by her fellow coworkers," What, he fell down the stairs and he might have lost his memory? And he just got over his pneumonia, this is the worst! Ok, I'll see if I'm able to come now, but I can't guarantee I can get off work so easily."

As Kiriko pretended to hang up, one of Kiriko's associates walked up to her asking, "Is everything ok Kiriko?"

"Hey Ayaru and unfortunately no. My grandfather fell down the stairs and now the doctors just diagnosed him with amnesia. My parents say I should go see him before his mind starts falling into retrograde." Kiriko explained in the most dismal voice she could achieve," I don't know if Takeo will let me leave my shift early."

"You know what? This sounds crazy urgent so you can go now and I'll take over for you." The associate offered in sympathy," If Takeo's got a problem, he'll just have to deal with it."

"Thanks Ayaru, you're the best!" Kiriko said as she ran to the backroom, her heart racing now.

"I can't believe he fell for that! I honest to god thought that I was going to get caught, I'm never doing anything like that again!" Kiriko griped to herself as she ripped her bag out from her locker and grabbed the PlayPact in her bag. She exited the cafe through the back door and made sure no one was around.

Kiriko then held out her PlayPact and shouted," Pretty Cure, it's playtime!"

An array of lilac and white lights appeared from the PlayPact and surrounded Kiriko, leaving Cure Dolly in her place.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.

Dolly ran around to the front and found the giant fan Defective standing there blowing winds so strong that people had to hold on to benches and posts to not get blown away.

"And so you've arrived Cure Dolly." Jack said from on top of a short building, sitting cross-legged as he held Rani and Nova tightly in his arms.

"Rani, Nova!" Cure Dolly shouted," Where did you find those two?"

"The little runts were walking around the neighborhood and I just happened to bump into them." Jack explained in false innocence," Unfortunately for you though, I have zero intention of giving them back to you. They're going to become my underlings at Asperity and as for you?"

The Defective let out a gust of wind so strong it swept Cure Dolly off her feet as Jack shouted," You'll be history!"

Cure Dolly fell into a flowerbed nearby and sighed in frustration as she brushed off her dress, saying to herself," Good grief, I can't even hope to land an attack on this thing if it's just going to keep blowing wind in my face. Not to mention it's way too crowded around here. I don't even want to attack knowing I'm going to risk a bystander getting hurt."

"I doubt this thing is even plugged in, this is dangerous you know!" Dolly shouted as she tried to fight back the wind gusting," If you want a fight, then we're going to have to do it somewhere else!"

"I don't actually want to fight though, I just want to make my Defective stronger. So if you have an issue with the battle grounds, then it's not my problem." Jack asked plainly.

Dolly groaned, leapt up high enough so that the Defective's wind wouldn't reach her and shouted," You really are an inconsiderate jerk!"

" _So what am I supposed to do now? Run away hoping that he'll follow me?"_ Dolly thought to herself," I have no choice but to fight here."

Dolly then stood her ground, standing in front of a lamp post and studied the Defective. Running around it to attack it from behind would've likely been too risky, Jack would catch onto a plan that simple and have it backfire on her. From where she was standing though, she wasn't getting hit with as hard by the wind. Dolly stared at the base of the Defective for a few moments, and then a thought came to her.

She started to run towards the Defective at full speed. The Defective looked at her curiously, but then started to blow wind towards her to keep her away. The Defective seemed rather confident in it's attack as Dolly started to have difficulty inching near to it. Dolly didn't give in and resisted getting blown away. As soon as she got close enough to the Defective, she grabbed the cord behind it and elaborately tied it up around a nearby lamp post.

"Well, now it'll cause less trouble." Dolly remarked, as the Defective tried to rip itself free from the post.

Dolly finally then took notice of the fact that Jack was staring at her with his eyes wide, as if he was in shock," Impressed?"

By the way that Dolly was running towards the Defective, he only assumed that she was going to pull something reckless like trying to knock the fan down from the bottom, which Jack believed was the only method that Dolly would've found. While knocking the fan down might have done some considerable damage to the Defective, it would also caused a lot of damaged to their surroundings. Broken cars, cracked sidewalks, the whole lot of it would've happened if Dolly knocked down the Defective. But instead, Dolly was being considerate of her surroundings, even at a time like this.

"Do you really think you've won?" Jack snickered," I'll just come right down their and untie him so he can blast you off into oblivion. Ooh, alternatively you know what I can do? Defective! Full power."

The Defective then did as told and blew a gust of wind stronger than the ones before towards Dolly. She felt tears stream out from her eyes and held on for dear life to the post beside her.

"I feel like I'm about to get blown away to the other side of town!" Dolly thought to herself fretfully," Just what am I left to do now?"

Jack started to laugh at Dolly trying not to get blown away while Rani whispered to Nova," I think we should tell her about the Playpact Pretend function."

"Are you kidding me?" Nova whispered back," She's not ready for that, and if she doesn't get the technique right at a time like this, it'll spell trouble for her."

"She's gonna be in trouble anyways if she just stands there trying to fight back the wind!" Rani pointed out hastily before yelling to Dolly," Cure Dolly! You need to channel all of your magic into your PlayPact!"

"What do I do after that?" Dolly shouted back.

"Think about the Defective blowing wind at you! Imagine it's the other way around!" Rani shouted back.

"Like that'll happen." Jack scoffed with a roll of his eyes.

"I'll try my best!" Dolly yelled, as she squeezed her eyes shut and attempted to clear her mind. She did everything she could, she slowed her breathing, tried tuning out all of the noise polluting her ears and did just as Rani told her to. Soon enough, she felt the winds from the Defective getting weaker and she then held her PlayPact in front of herself. She figured that some form of barrier had been created as she focused her magic, but she was only half right. When opened her eyes, she saw the winds from the Defective getting sucked into her PlayPact.

"Now shout out, Let's Play Pretend!" Rani instructed.

Dolly nodded and shouted," Let's play...Pretend!"

A whirlwind emerged out from Dolly's PlayPact as straight towards the Defective. The Defective defended itself as it kept blowing wind towards Dolly, but it had difficulty fighting back.

"Did the Defective's wind get weaker?" Dolly wondered as she watched the Defective struggle to keep up with her," No, my wind is just stronger."

"Hey Defective! I didn't create you just watch you get beaten up by a person a quarter your size! Come on, show her who's boss!" Jack insisted impatiently.

The Defective tried to put up a better fight and mustered up as much strength as it could to blow down Dolly, and while it seemed it's attack was working for a few moments, it looked like it wouldn't last long.

Cure Dolly then held her PlayPact up high and yelled," Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"

The Defective was hit with a wind so strong that it got separated from it's cord and fell to it's feet.

Dolly walked up to it slowly in a cautious manner. As she grew closer, she inspected the Defective to make sure it wasn't going to attack again. Appearing unable to move at all, Dolly drew out a deep breath and closed her eyes as their surroundings turned lilac and pink.

"Pretty Cure, Wishing Enchant!" Dolly cried out. The Defective was purified and returned to it's original form.

Dolly seemed quite impressed with herself, as she held the PlayPact in her hands and stared at it in awe. She was so zoned in on her compact, she didn't even realize Jack was still there.

"Hey, you haven't won just yet!" Jack hollered as he grip on Rani and Nova got tighter," Remember what I have?"

Dolly glowered at Jack and shouted," Don't you dare hurt them!"

She leapt up to the building Jack was sitting at and stood her ground for a few moments, deciding what she should do next.

Jack then began to ignore Dolly, getting bored of her as she just stood there," Hm, I think I shall call you Minion One and you Minion Blue since you've got one horn and you are blue."

"That's a horrendous naming convention." Nova grumbled while Dolly tried to determine what her next move should be.

 _"I really shouldn't attack him head on with him holding them, but he's not giving me any other openings."_ Dolly thought to herself in dismay, _"It would be nice to use that new whirlwind technique on him, but I can't risk getting those two caught up in the attack. Maybe there's another way to use it though..."_

"What do you want Rani and Nova so much? How will they be of use to you?" Dolly asked in a forcefully calm voice.

"Can't you tell? These two have magic running rampantly in their veins. Despite the fact that they're a pair of half-pints, their magic is exceptionally strong." Jack explained as he stared down at the two fairies in his hands, his excitement brimming up in him at the very thought of extracting their magic," Why else would Queen Imogen cast these two off into the human world? I sure can't wait to sap them of their magic and make it my own."

Dolly felt that rush of adrenaline, that questionable surge of passion overcome her again as she yelled," You'll do no such thing!"

She then dashed towards Jack as quick as she could, and Jack just looked at her with a bored expression on his face.

"Honestly, could she be anymore predi-" Jack began in mid-sentence, before he remembered a certain incident that happened earlier, _"The last time she ran up to her opponent, she had an ace up her sleeve. I can't be so careless at a time like this."_

Jack then jumped up high and turn around to face Dolly, only to find that Dolly was up in the air just like him. Jack looked pale, and eyed Dolly worriedly.

 _"She couldn't jump that high given that much time, so how did she-?"_ Jack questioned in his head, before he noticed a small whirlwind blowing under her _," She created a tornado in the spot where she wanted to jump from!"_

"I'm not wasting another second with you!" Cure Dolly shouted, just a few inches away from Jack as she punched him in the stomach, causing him to let go of the fairies.

Cure Dolly caught the two fairies and Jack staggered a few feet backwards. Realizing he was empty-handed, Jack took his leave impatiently.

"Dolly, you did it!" Rani exclaimed as Dolly detransformed. Kiriko then laid down on the building top, feeling quite exhausted.

"So that's why...that's why I felt so driven out of nowhere back then at my first encounter with Asperity." Kiriko said absently as she stared up at the sky," It wasn't because I enjoyed the fighting, it was because I was able to protect you two."

Kiriko sat up straight and looked at the two fairies apprehensively saying," I lucked out today in saving you guys. Had you not have told me about the Pretend function on my PlayPact, we all would've been goners. It was too close for comfort today, I'm sorry about that."

Nova and Rani exchanged looks with each other. They just witnessed Kiriko give her all in order to save the two of them and now they beginning to feel somewhat guilty about doubting Kiriko and her interest in being a Pretty Cure. Despite the fact that she may have had a bunch of other activities that ate up most of her time, Kiriko was indeed talented, and deserved to be a Pretty Cure.

"It's fine, all that matters is that we're all safe!" Nova stated, giving Kiriko a thumbs-up.

"You're right!" Kiriko exclaimed with a small smile on her face.


	4. After-School Adventures

Rain poured and splashed against the window of Kiriko's mother's car. The sound of it was relaxing, maybe too relaxing as it left Kiriko heavy-lidded and feeling the need to yawn every two minutes. It was a dark and cloudy Monday, full of traffic and rain. Today, Kiriko's mom, Konomi, offered to drive her to school and of course Kiriko would never say no to a ride to school, especially in weather like this.

This weekend had been awfully busy for Kiriko. Between work, homework, and encountering Jack from Asperity for the second time, Kiriko had almost zero time for herself today. As Kiriko looked out the window, she thought about her plans for today. School, work on an assignment during lunch that was due today, and attend a last-minute planned student council meeting. Kiriko was undoubtedly in for a long day.

" _With the amount of time I have to myself, its no wonder that Rani and Nova were suspicious of me."_ Kiriko thought to herself as a wave of guilt crashed over her while she thought about what happened between her and the fairies yesterday.

Rani and Nova had requested to have a talk with Kiriko, and while the latter was unsure of why they wanted to, she complied without question.

"Kiriko, we've been meaning to ask you a set of questions…" Nova began hesitantly.

"Like what?" Kiriko asked in a rather naïve voice that annoyed Nova slightly.

"Why do you work?" Rani blurted out," You're in high-school, already busy as is, not to mention your family seems well-off and-"

"- I work because I'm going to have quite a few expenses in a year from now. See, as a third-year, I'm going to graduate from high-school very soon and then I'm going to University. In University, some things, such as textbooks are really expensive, with some of them costing thousands of yen." Kiriko explained, " I know I'm already busy but I really don't mind it and I don't like the idea of relying on my parents for that kinda stuff."

Kiriko looked at Rani and Nova, noticing that they didn't seem satisfied with her answer just yet. So Kiriko decided to continue.

" I'm going to Law School so, in order to have good grades, I need to go to cram school to ensure I can excel in my studies and the school I'm applying to is looking for students with that display leadership skills, its sorta prestigious, so that's why I'm a part of student council. Does that answer your guys' questions?" Kiriko asked with a small sigh following after.

Rani and Nova looked at each other and the former said to Kiriko, " So, now that we know what you have to deal with on a weekly basis, I think we understand why you were originally so hesitant on being a Pretty Cure. But still, even if we understand why, we can't reverse what happened. Like it or not Kiriko, you've been chosen. And from what we've seen, it was no mistake."

" I know, I know I'm all you've got. So, I'll try my best to help you and live my life normally. I know I might not be the most reliable, but I've been thinking about this and… I really do want to be of some help to you guys. So try and patient with and the fact that I just can't completely change my whole lifestyle for you guys." Kiriko stated.

"We aren't asking you to, we want to help you and we're going to do that by finding the next Pretty Cure!" Rani declared determinedly.

" _Later on we all gazed into the mirror of my PlayPact, Rani and Nova said it like a very weak form of fortune-telling and then we asked the mirror what the next Pretty Cure looked like."_ Kiriko thought to herself as she took out the compact from her bag, _" It wouldn't show us that, so we had to ask it a bunch of other questions before we were given something to work with."_

Kiriko and the fairies had a clear image to associate with the next Pretty Cure. Whoever she was, she enjoyed desserts, with her favourite one being what had appeared to be a salted caramel cheesecake. The girls had been asking the easiest of questions like what the next Cure's name was, what school she went to, and how old she was but the mirror didn't project a thing until Kiriko impatiently asked what the girl's favourite dessert was. To their surprise, the mirror displayed a picture of a caramel cheesecake.

" _This is our first clue…?"_ Was the only thought that ran through everyone's mind.

"This doesn't seem easy now that I think about it…" Kiriko said quietly to herself as she reached the school.

"Big test today or something?" Konomi asked idly while looking for a spot to park.

"Yeah, I guess I'll just have to work extra hard though." Kiriko responded with a fake smile on her face. Kiriko exited her mom's car and walked to the school from the parking lot. It seemed to have gotten colder this morning, making Kiriko thankful that her mom forced her to bring her dark grey jacket to school. As Kiriko opened her umbrella, she watched the groups of people around her walking to the school. There were second-year girls a few feet ahead of her, chattering away in lively voices about their weekends. Kiriko then looked around and realized it wasn't just them, many students had formed little groups around her and were talking amongst themselves on this cold, gloomy walk to the school.

"Too bad Hayase and Takeshi come from the opposite direction." Kiriko said to herself as she surveyed the group of second-year girls in front of her _," Rani and Nova asked me if I had some ideas for who the next Pretty Cure might be. They even asked me if I suspected any of my friends to be Pretty Cures. I've got this awful habit of keeping to myself, so I'm not sure if I can go as far at to consider the girls in my class to be my friends. But, I guess that doesn't mean they couldn't be potentialleads. Instead of keeping an eye on my classmates to see who would be the most likely to be a Pretty Cure, it would probably be easier to just scout areas that sell desserts."_

Kiriko then thought about the fact that searching areas that were full of desserts meant that she could probably get to eat a bunch of desserts in the process.

"Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought it would." Kiriko mused to herself, before she heard the sounds of the school bells ring.

Rani and Nova were staying inside Kiriko's room for the day, with the two of them feeling somewhat counterproductive as they waited around restlessly for Kiriko's return from school. Today was definitely not shaping up to be the best day to search for the next Pretty Cure with these weather conditions, not to mention it was a school day so chances were that the next Pretty Cure would be in class for the majority of the day.

Nova seemed to have been getting rather bored with all this lying around, knowing that she could've been making better use of her time. Kiriko had left some snacks for the two of them for when they got hungry and Nova began to eat a large cookie with royal blue icing.

Rani, however, decided to use this time to relax and enjoy herself by reading the picture book that Kiriko had checked out from the library. Nova then walked up towards her and joined her in reading the picture book.

"Are you actually enjoying staying indoors like this?" Nova asked Rani as she offered half of her sugar cookie.

"Well, it's not like we can do anything about the weather, so we might as well use this time to unwind." Rani said as she placed her hand on one of the pages, marveling at the sparkly texture on it," We haven't done anything like this in a while. All we've been doing these last few days is searching endlessly for the next Pretty Cure. Even we need some time to ourselves."

Nova then sighed in defeat and sat down next to Rani, asking her," So what is this book about?"

"It's about a girl who rides a black horse with a golden mane and wings, I think it's called a pegasus, and she travels around in the night and helps ward off nightmares in everyone's dreams." Rani answered as she pointed to a picture of the story's main character. The main character had long dark red hair and had a large smile on her face as she rode the pegasus.

"She's fearless, cares for others and very passionate. It would be nice if the next Cure was like her." Rani commented as she and Nova kept looking at the picture of the girl," What do you think the next Cure will be like?"

"Hm...I can honestly say...that I have no idea." Nova replied,"As long as she's not as busy as Kiriko, I'll be more than happy to have her on the team."

Kiriko planned to begin the search for the next Pretty Cure after school today. She checked the weather and found out that the rain was supposed to clear up, and since the meeting with student council likely wasn't going to last very long, she perfect opportunity to look around when most high-school kids would be taking detours home.

During her class as she was listening to the teacher's lecture, Kiriko had her phone in her lap, searching up cafe to get cheesecake from. Dozens came up, much to Kiriko's distress as she wrote them all down in her notes. But Kiriko was now intent on finding this next Cure, even if she had little information to work with. Kiriko finally figured that with a second Pretty Cure around, she wouldn't have to be worrying about over-exerting herself and all her energy towards defeating Jack of Asperity every time he appeared. She had more important (well, important to her) things to do.

"Don't forget we're finishing our novel study book by the end of this week, and I want a rough copy of the essay for the book done by the end of next week." The teacher announced to the class.

Kiriko's eyes widened in fear as she took a break from writing out her cafe list.

 _"I forgot all about working on my rough copy! I haven't even started it, and I had all that time after work on Saturday too!"_ Kiriko lamented in her head," _Just what the heck was I-?! Oh yeah, I had taken a nap for a few hours when I got home 'cuz I was so exhausted from that fight with that Defective."_

Kiriko then sighed and continued to add her cafe list, _" It's fine, I can just work on it after school on Friday. Looking for the next Pretty Cure is more important right now!"_

In Kiriko's next class, she had been assigned to write a paper titled "Where I see myself in five years". Everyone else around her seemed indifferent to this assignment as they wrote the deadline for the paper in their agendas, while Kiriko stared at the board incredulously.

"Are you kidding me? We just got an essay assigned for Literature and now we have to do a 4-paged single spaced paper? I'm gonna have an aneurysm from all this writing!" Kiriko whispered to the student, Norika, in front of her.

"Yeah, I thought we were going to have less work assigned right after the midterms." Norika whispered," At least most of us are just about done are rough copies for Literature. How far have you gotten on yours?"

"Oh, um, I'm almost done! Just need to make some final adjustments and I'm good to go!" Kiriko lied as she avoided eye-contact with Norika _,"I'll probably need to stay up late on Friday night. At least I start work at eleven the next day, so I don't have to get up as early. This is ok, it's manageable, I guess things could be worse anyways."_

"So has everyone decided on what topic they wanted to cover for this year's Science fair?" Kiriko's Science teacher asked the classroom. Kiriko felt like she was ready to call it a day, all she wanted wanted to do now was retreat to her home and lock herself into her room and work on all her homework in isolation for the next few days. The more Kiriko thought about just working on these projects without interruption for the next few days, the more lenient she became. It would've made more sense anyways to just clear these projects, at least the majority of them while she could so she wouldn't have to stress about them for the next few days. And besides, who knew when next Jack would show up again? He could appear and disappear out of her life when he pleased, deadlines for her projects couldn't.

At the end of Kiriko's school day, she had convinced herself to postpone her search for the second Pretty Cure and just do her homework right after her meeting. She realized even if she went to as many cafes as she could today and scope the area for the next Cure, that didn't necessarily mean the second Cure would be found today. Kiriko decided she didn't have any time to risk wasting time so she left her classroom to attend the meeting without any regrets.

"I'm sure Rani and Nova will understand. They already know I'm extremely busy anyways, it's only to be expected." Kiriko said aloud, feeling as if a large weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Kiriko took her seat next to her fellow members Hayase and Takeshi in the classroom where the meetings were held and the meeting began. It went just as Kiriko hoped, nothing as major as she thought it would be and no crucial deadlines or tasks were thrown at her. Kiriko surmised that the only reason that the meeting was held today and ran like a regular meeting was because either Hayase or Takeshi were unavailable for their regular times this week. While Kiriko took notes during the meeting, she took notice of the first year class-representatives listening intently to Hayase, with quite a few of them giving their input and feedback. The second year class-representatives were much quieter in comparison, but they had always been that way.

Kiriko paid close attention to one student who was quick to comment on whatever Hayase had to say, not in a negative manner, it was as if the student just desperately wanted Hayase's attention. The student seemed rather fond of giving suggestions, and some of them were actually pretty useful.

 _"He's really passionate about this stuff. It's kinda obvious that he wants to be student council when the three of us are gone."_ Kiriko thought to herself.

"Furthermore, I think bringing back soft drinks to the vending machines wouldn't be a good idea because it would make us look like we aren't considerate about the student body's health." The student concluded.

Hayase then turned his head to Kiriko, giving her a skeptical look. Kiriko simply shrugged and Hayase gave his attention back to the student.

"As of right now Osashi, the selection of beverages in the school's vending machines is no longer in our control. We had already convinced the principal to bring them back and to only ask him to send them back when they've already been placed back into the machines would not only irritate the principal, but the students as well. And it's not as if they're the only beverages sold in the machines. There's bottled vitamin water and coffee in there too." Hayase responded briskly as he pushed up his glasses, with a few other students nodding their heads in response.

"But I heard vitamin water's got lots of sugars inside it." One girl, a second-year class rep pointed out as she typed notes into her laptop.

Osashi noticed that he was alone on this side of the debate and stayed quiet for the remainder of the meeting.

The meeting had been adjourned once two more topics were discussed. Kiriko was getting ready to go home now, feeling unusually excited to start her homework when Hayase walked up towards her.

"Hey Kiriko, did you want to work on homework together? I had some math homework I was having some issues with and I thought you'd probably be a great help." Hayase explained.

"Sure, I guess." Kiriko answered as she and Hayase walked out of the classroom," But it's sorta late now, I'm not sure if any of the classrooms are gonna still be open."

"That's ok, we could probably go to the library or something." Hayase replied as the two of them started to walk out of the school," Then again, the library is kinda far from here, have any other suggestions?"

An idea then suddenly came to Kiriko. Excitedly, she looked through her list of cafes and located the one closest to them. She then took a hold of Hayase's hand tightly and start to lead him to the cafe. The cafe was a lot closer than Kiriko expected and in less than fifteen minutes, the two of them were standing right in front of it.

"Cafe Rosewood? Is this place any good?" Hayase asked as the two of them stared at the front of the cafe.

"I'm not sure yet! I read some reviews online and it sounded really good so I thought, why not try it out?" Kiriko explained with a forced laugh following afterwards.

The two of them smelt what seemed to be bread flowing out from the cafe. They breathed it in and both released a relaxed sigh afterwards.

Hayase then said, "You know I heard that some bakeries and cafes use-"

"-Store signs with scents integrated in them?" Kiriko finished, not even the slightest bit surprised that he was thinking the same thing as her,"Either way, this place looks promising. Come on, let's go inside!"

Kiriko and Hayase entered the cafe and were astounded to find out that it was much larger than it appeared to be from outside. The walls of the cafe were a bright white, and the tables and booths were an eggshell colour. There were a lot of green ornate decorations and detailing found all around the cafe; there was some on the legs of the chairs and tables, on the walls, and even on the uniform shirts of the waiters at the cafe. It reminded Kiriko of vines. The cafe was also full of students, some of them from Kiriko's school and some from other schools. Sunlight poured in from the cafe's windows, it appeared that the rain had cleared up for the day.

A waitress then noticed the two of them standing at the front of the store and then walked up towards them. The waitress was very cheerful and wore a large smile on her face as she approached the two of them. She then lead them to a booth and gave them a pair of menus. They flipped through the menus in bewilderment, both of them having no idea a cafe could have so many desserts on a menu.

"I have no idea what to get. What about you, what looks good?" Kiriko questioned.

"Everything." Hayase answered sheepishly as he stared down at the menu.

Kiriko laughed at Hayase's answer and continued to look through the menu. She then noticed there was a caramel cheesecake on it and all of a sudden seemed a bit nervous.

 _"That's right, I've got a super important task on my hands right now! I have to be on the look-out for the next Cure!"_ Kiriko reminded herself," _There has to be someone else here eating a caramel cheesecake. At least, there_ should _be. I might have to order it myself if no one's eating it. Maybe the cheesecake will attract the next Pretty Cure? Oh what am I thinking, they're not some kinda of bug."_

"So, are you two ready to order?" The waitress asked as she arrived at their table again, startling Kiriko in the process.

"I'll take a slice of the strawberry shortcake." Hayase ordered as he handed the waitress his menu.

"And I'll have a slice of the caramel cheesecake." Kiriko ordered as the waitress took her menu and left the two of them.

"Wait there was cheesecake on the menu? I wish I saw it before, I love cheesecake." Hayase confessed awkwardly,"Let me have a slice of yours when the orders come?"

Kiriko nodded and then the two of them pulled out their books and got to work.

 _"Today might end up being a bust. But this wasn't a bad idea though. Why didn't I think of working on homework at the cafe before?"_

Kiriko looked around the cafe and watched as groups of kids around her were eating desserts and working on homework just like her and Hayase. It didn't seem like anyone had ordered a cheesecake, but Kiriko didn't seem to care right now. Kiriko then tried to remember when was the last time she had spent time with a friend like this. She thought about it for awhile and was unable to recall.

 _"I'm pretty sure going into a cafe like this all by myself would've made me felt lonely, so I'm glad I got to bring Hayase along."_ Kiriko thought to herself, just before an odd thought came to her _," Could the cheesecake have been hinting to Hayase?"_

With his jet black hair cut into a fade and fair skin along with blue-green eyes, Hayase could've easily been a magical boy without any transformation needed. Hayase and Kiriko had been friends for a pretty long time now, ever since their first year in high-school, so having him as a teammate would've been pretty nice since they already knew they worked well together.

The thought of him being a Pretty Cure though started to make Kiriko laugh, causing Hayase to look at her in confusion.

Outside of the cafe stood a tall man with black hair that was a slate colour at the tips and grey eyes obscured by an awfully large pair of goggles. He wore a lab coat with odd dots and lines around it and black pants. He surveyed his surroundings very carefully in search of something, literally leaving no stone unturned. He looked beneath a bench and didn't see anything noteworthy, though he seemed oddly delighted by his findings.

"Would you look at that, there's nothing here!" The man remarked with a look of excitement appearing to his face," Such a wondrous occasion to exit my home, venture off into the unknown and find absolutely nothing!"

The man then stood from beneath the bench and sat on top of a recycling bin," There's always something around, it's quite easy to find something. So, to find nothing, an absence of anything, surely there must be something worth celebrating in that."  
"Too bad little Jack's gotten in trouble today. I think he would've quite enjoyed searching for nothing with me today." The man said," However, just because I've found nothing, doesn't mean I'll be doing nothing."

He then saw a group of middle-schoolers walking down his path and sets his eyes on only one of them.

"She'll make an excellent target." The man said as he retrieved a blue vial from inside his pocket.

Kiriko and Hayase received their orders and were both just about done eat their cakes. Kiriko however seemed less enthusiastic about finishing her her slice of cheesecake as she poked away at it with her fork.

"Had enough?" Hayase asked with a forced chuckle.

"The caramel on top of it is way too sweet." Kiriko admitted as she pushed the plate back," Did you want to finish it?"

Hayase wasn't paying attention to her and was instead looking at the group of kids crowded at the windows of the cafe.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening but yeah, I'll finish it." Hayase answered inattentively as he returned his attention to Kiriko.

Kiriko fixed her gaze on the crowd of kids around the windows, as she said," Come on, let's find out what's happening."

So Kiriko and Hayase got up from the booth and walked over towards the crowd to join them. The two of them were having some difficulty to reach the front, but they really didn't need to as they were tall enough to see over the kids in front of them. Outside of the window was a giant monstrous lamp in the cafe's front yard, holding two girls hostage.

"Not this again..." Kiriko said to herself quietly as she tried to think of a way to leave the cafe," _No one but Hayase would notice if I disappeared right now, but I can't stand around here, knowing those girls could get hurt any moment now."_

Without a second thought, Kiriko ran towards the front doors and exited the cafe. She then headed to the side of the building and retrieved her PlayPact from inside her pocket.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" Kiriko shouted as a mass of lilac and white lights appeared from her PlayPact.

The lights enveloped Kiriko and within a few moments, Cure Dolly was in her place.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.

Dolly then marched up to the Defective, who was still holding the two girls and said to it," Leave those two alone!"

The tall man from before was sitting at the top of the fountain in the cafe's front yard, studying Cure Dolly as she confronted the Defective. The Defective than flashed a blinding light in Dolly's face, causing her to shield her eyes. Watching Dolly make a spectacle of herself was quite amusing to Domino.

"That's weird, I don't think Jack's here today." Dolly stated quietly with her eyes shut, but not quiet enough that Jack couldn't hear her.

"Correct!" The man exclaimed as he stood up on top of the fountain, finally getting Dolly's attention," Jack got in trouble from failing to put an end to you so I have stepped in to give him a hand. The name's Domino."

Domino then put his goggles on properly and declared eagerly," Now then, let's see how you'll measure up against my Defective, Cure Dolly."

Cure Dolly then jumped up very high and delivered the first blow to the Defective. She gave a very swift and powerful kick, causing it to only stagger a few feet backwards. The Defective required little time to recover and so it threw a punch to Dolly with one of the girls in hand. Dolly dodged it quite easily and attempted to land another kick onto the Defective. But this time it didn't work as the Defective evaded her attack. Dolly then returned to the ground and tried to figure out a plan.

"I won't have any luck trying to fight this Defective if it's holding the girls hostage." Dolly stated as she examined the Defective very closely," This won't be easy, but I can't keep fighting this Defective with those girls in the way."

Dolly's eyes then widened as an idea came to her, as she started to run towards the Defective," It's a shot in the dark, but it's all I've got right now!"

Inside the cafe, the kids from before were still crowding around the windows, now appearing to be more excited as they watched Dolly fight against the Defective. In fact, even more kids had started to watch from the windows when Dolly had made an appearance.

"Do you think it's some kinda PR stunt to promote the cafe?" One of the guys standing next to the windows asked.

"No way, this cafe doesn't need a promotion like that!" Another student shouted.

"But then that means this fight's for real then and that girl's there all by herself." Another student pointed out.

"Will she be ok?" One of the girls asked as they all continued to watch the fight, now appearing to be a bit more apprehensive as the fight dragged on.

Dolly was a few feet away from the Defective now and glared at the Defective as she jumped up. Both the Defective and Domino expected her to be jumping towards it's center, but instead, she leapt to it's knees and kicked the right one as hard as she could. The Defective then let the two girls go out of reflex to tend to it's injured knee. The girls were then descending to the ground and so, Cure Dolly pulled out her PlayPact and held it in front of herself.

"Create a gale of wind around the girls to bring them to the ground safely!" Dolly commanded. Her PlayPact did as instructed and a gale of wind emerged out from the PlayPact.

Once the girls reached the ground, they both ran away from the scene at breakneck speed.

Domino seemed rather unimpressed as he watched the girls take their leave," And they were going to make such good subjects to use for my Defective."

Cure Dolly started to give a number of punches towards the Defective, who was quick enough to dodge nearly all of her attacks. The Defective grabbed her wrists while she was carelessly attacking and tossed her into the fountain that Domino was sitting at.

"Painful, isn't it?" Domino asked her expectantly as she felt a shiver crawl down her spine.

"I oughta toss that Defective in the water just to get even..." Dolly grumbled to herself," Wait, the Defective is a lamp, so maybe it'll take just as much damage from the water as if it were a regular lamp?"

Dolly then scrutinized the Defective, taking note of the fact that it wasn't possible to submerge it into the fountain," _I would just have to soak the bulb though wouldn't I? Even then, to throw it into the fountain and hope that it's bulb had been hit with water isn't the most effective plan."_

As Dolly was devising her strategy, she then remembered the pretend mode she had on her PlayPact. She looked down to her PlayPact, putting her hand on it cautiously.

"Would I be able to use the pretend mode on the fountain?" Dolly asked herself in a low voice," It's not the fountain that's the Defective, so it might not work. But...it is called the pretend mode, so by that logic, the PlayPact should be able to pretend it can have powers from water right?"

"It's worth a shot." Dolly concluded as she shut her eyes and focussed her energy into the PlayPact.

"Let's play pretend!" Dolly shouted as she held her PlayPact up high. Dolly's PlayPact was glowing violet, blue and white as she held the PlayPact in front of herself. A tendril of water then flew out from Dolly's PlayPact and drenched the Defective. The Defective then started to short-circuit and flail about uncontrollably.

"Now's my only chance!" Dolly said as she darted up towards the Defective. Dolly wasted no time in jumping up towards the Defective and kicking the bulb of the Defective so hard that it shattered open. The Defective was defeated and fell backwards, unable to move.

"Pretty Cure, Wishing Enchant!" Dolly cried out as the atmosphere around her and the Defective turned pink and lilac. The Defective was cleansed and returned back to it's original form.

At the cafe, all the students from before were all talking about the fight they just saw. Everyone was unable to believe what they just saw and a many of them were left with questions. They did seem to have been amazed as they talked about the fight and Cure Dolly amongst themselves.

"Do you think this is going to happen again?" One student asked.

"That girl was really brave! She fought that huge lamp all by herself and didn't even get scared." Another student remarked," I don't think I could ever do something like that."

"I wonder where she ran off to...maybe she went to search for more monsters!" Another student theorized.

"Another member of Asperity showed up?" Rani asked nervously. The three of them were in Kiriko's bedroom now. Kiriko had just got home from the cafe and was about to take a shower. Kiriko sat crossed-legged on her bed and nodded.

"His name is Domino. He seems less eccentric than Jack, actually...he's just a different kind of weird compared to Jack. But yeah, Domino appeared and made a Defective. I defeated it but, I didn't find the next Pretty Cure today." Kiriko explained.

"So, you fought another Defective all by yourself?" Nova asked, receiving a nod from Kiriko.

Suddenly, Kiriko felt as if she was forgetting something. When she remembered, she felt her heart sink for a moment.

"I left Hayase behind." Kiriko said to herself in a disappointed voice," It should be fine. In all the excitement, he must've thought we got separated or something."

A few days had passed since the incident and the weekend came again. Kiriko was found standing at register, feeling slightly annoyed with herself for not finding the next Pretty Cure as of yet. It had been a busy week for her, as usual and after Monday, she had less time to herself than she realized and completely put off looking for the second Pretty Cure.

 _"It's bad enough that I didn't get to search for the next Pretty Cure yesterday because of all the class work I had to do, but now I gotta stay back an extra hour today because Yuna called in sick."_ Kiriko thought to herself.

"Hey Kiriko, did you see the new items we got on the menu?" Ayaru asked as he walked up to her with a menu in hand," They've been pretty popular this morning, especially the caramel cheesecake!"

Kiriko's eyes widened greatly as she heard that and looked at the menu Ayaru handed to her," The what?"

Pictured on the menu was the exact same cheesecake that the PlayPact had shown to Kiriko and the fairies, much to her surprise.

"Wow, it sure looks good!" Kiriko remarked awkwardly," Maybe we should ask the guests what they think of the newest additions. You know, to see if it needs improvements."

"That's a good idea!" Ayaru replied in excitement," If you want, you could start with that table over there."

Kiriko saw the table that had a girl who seemed to be in high-school with her mother. Kiriko felt that the girl looked familiar, but she couldn't really figure out just where she had seen her. She anxiously walked up towards the table, putting on a welcoming face as she smiled to the two of them.

"So, how are you guys enjoying your meal?" Kiriko asked as her eyes met the younger girl's. Out of nowhere, she felt something that she wasn't able to describe flowing out from the girl.

 _"The energy or, maybe even magic, she has, it's kinda like my own...no, it's not just similar to it. I think it's identical."_


	5. Cure Teddy, ready to play!

"What do you mean you didn't get to tell her?!" Rani cried frantically as Kiriko sprawled out onto her bed.

Kiriko let go of an enormous sigh and closed her eyes as she said," Exactly that. I was at work and I couldn't just tell her that she could be some magical girl who's gonna wear a frilly dress and save the world." Kiriko explained, appearing to be rather irritated with both the fairies and herself," And well...I panicked. I never even thought about what I was going to tell her when I found her. Plus, I'm not even sure if I've got the right girl, no there's not much harm done right?"

"Kiriko, you said that you felt magic just like yours from her right?" Rani questioned patiently, receiving an awkward nod from Kiriko,"If what you felt from her was strong enough for you to believe her magic was like yours, then there's no mistake, it has to be her!"

Kiriko retrieved one of her pillows from the foot of her bed and buried her face into it, muffling her voice as she said," Now I feel a whole lot worse."

"But, you said you think you've seen her before right?" Nova pointed out," Chances are, she might've even go to school!"

Kiriko sat upright and tried to think about if she really had seen the girl at school. One thing was for sure about the girl, she was unique in appearance. The girl's hair was long and red, she was average height but probably shorter than Kiriko, maybe about five feet four inches. Her skin was also quite pale and she had very green eyes. Truthfully, Kiriko hadn't met many people with an appearance quite like hers, but it was possible that Kiriko was mistaking the girl for someone else.

"Did you at least get a good look at her before she left?" Rani asked expectantly. Kiriko nodded as she tried to think.

"Are there even any red-heads at my school?" Kiriko questioned aloud," Well, Norika's a bleach-blonde, Shina on student council has light brown hair, who else is there really...?"

"Kiriko, that can't be all the friends you have..." Nova commented with a slight cringe.

"Well, those are the only friends I have that are girls and even then I feel like calling them friends is pushing the envelope." Kiriko responded," Maybe I'll just ask one of those two at school and see if they know her."

Kiriko then laid on her bed, staring up at her ceiling with a blank look in her eye, her mind worlds away. Even if she couldn't identify the girl, she had finally just met her new teammate. The girl did seem like an average high-school student, but it was to tell what personality was really like since she was just with her mom. If she was hanging out with a group of friends, maybe it would've been easier to determine what her personality was really like without Kiriko having to find out for herself.

Suddenly, a realization had dawned onto Kiriko as her eyes widened. She didn't make any mistake, she the girl weeks before with a group of friends. It was the day when Kiriko went to the library where she saw the girl with her friends waiting around at library.

"The girl goes to my school!" Kiriko exclaimed," She was at the library the day I met you guys. I think she's in first-year, but I'm sure she goes to the same school as me. But, how am I supposed to tell her this, I don't exactly know her and well...I'm kinda nervous about how she'll respond."

Rampant thoughts of the girl dismissing her request or laughing at her and spreading rumors about how vice-president Kiriko was claiming to be a magical girl started to run through her mind. All of a sudden, Kiriko felt her heart begin to race and she felt herself grow anxious.

"I don't think this will be very easy." Kiriko declared nervously," But...maybe I'll plan the rest of this out later so I don't overthink things. For now I'll focus on finding out the girl's name instead."

"A girl with long red hair?" Shina, Kiriko's fellow student member, repeated. Shina was drinking cucumber water from her water bottle as she tried to think, but it appeared that she already had an idea of who Kiriko was talking about.

"You mean Asuna?" Shina asked as she took a few more sips of her water.

"Asuna?" Kiriko repeated.

"Yeah, she's one of the first years. She seems to be fairly popular, a few guys in my class are friends with her but yeah I think that's probably who you're talking about." Shina answered nonchalantly," Why do you ask?"

"Oh, well Asuna left something at the cafe the other day and I wanted to return it to her." Kiriko explained curtly," I recognized her from school but just didn't know her name."

"Ah, I see. Well she'll probably be hanging out in the court yard like the rest of the first years usually do during lunch so you could probably give it to her then." Shina suggested," But you know, it'd probably be easier for you to just-"

A group of first-years walked past the two of them and Kiriko spotted Asuna in the crowd. Kiriko took this chance and started to follow after them quickly.

"You can tell me later ok?" Kiriko said to Shina before she left.

"-Give it to her brother." Shina finished, her eyes narrowed as she watched Kiriko run after the first years.

 _"It's quite early to be going to the court yard, I wonder if they have some kinda private obligations they have to attend."_ Kiriko theorized as she followed after them quickly, _"_

 _Sometimes, popular kids live two separate lives, so it's highly possible Asuna and her group are just-"_

Kiriko noticed Asuna's group taking a seat underneath a nearby tree and so she quickly hid behind a bicycle rack to continue her investigating. The group seemed just as lively as they did on the day Kiriko found them in the library. They were chatting amongst themselves, asking each other about how their weekends went while Kiriko continued to survey them.

"What am I thinking? They just wanted to hang outside since they all got here early and it's a nice day out." Kiriko said to herself quietly," They all must have known each for a while now, maybe even before high-school, since they all seem so close. "

Kiriko watched the group, feeling almost jealous as she narrowed in on Asuna, who was talking to two of her classmates about the cafe she went to during her weekend. Kiriko then remembered that she needed to devise some kind of strategy to get Asuna on her team.

"This whole Pretty Cure business might not interest her, so I guess I need to highlight the best things about it in order to get her on board." Kiriko said to herself as she turned her back on the group, still behind the bicycle rack," Hm...what's so good about being a Pretty Cure anyways?"

"Well, you get to wear cute clothes!" Nova pointed out as she popped out of Kiriko's bag," And, you get access to your own magical powers! As a normal human girl, what more could you want?"

"Didn't I say that you absolutely couldn't do that?" Kiriko said as she tried to keep her bag hidden," Rani was right, you are reckless! And not to mention a tad defiant if you ask me."

"I wouldn't agree with you even if I knew what that meant." Nova responded brashly," Anyways, I think you're on the right track about telling her about the fun parts of being a Pretty Cure, that way you can distract her from all the not so fun parts."

Kiriko then thought about the not so fun parts that came with being a Pretty Cure. There was all the monsters she constantly had to fight against, the flaking out on work and other obligations whenever Asperity showed up, and a few other things that Kiriko didn't even want to think about. All of a sudden, the idea of telling Asuna made her feel uneasy as she thought about how different the two of them were.

 _"I'm busy to a fault, and I'm not that great at making friends so obviously I'm not normal. So for me to have been chosen as a Pretty Cure, despite already living a busy life, it feels like not much has changed. It hadn't impacted me as much as I expected it too."_ Kiriko thought to herself.

She then turned around and kneeled against the bike rack and continued to study Asuna, slowly feeling regret in the actions she had yet to take.

"Her normal, carefree life is just going to come to an end because of me." Kiriko stated quietly," Soon enough, she'll be fighting a bunch of monsters and won't be able to live as she always does."

"But Kiriko, it's not like she's going to be all alone in her battles against Asperity!" Nova reminded her, only to be shushed by Kiriko so she spoke in a quieter voice," She'll have you by her side."

"Yeah, you're right." Kiriko answered, taking another glance at Asuna," And I mean, just like me, she had to have been chosen for some reason right? Who knows, maybe her powers are even stronger than mine!"

"Did you guys hear that Yutaro had to stay back after class yesterday? I think it had to do with him skipping study break on Friday." One of Asuna's friends stated.

"Geez Yutaro's got some rotten luck, considering he wasn't the only one who skipped class that day..." One of the girl's commented, with her gaze turning to Asuna.

" Hey, it's not like I'm the one who told him to tag along..." Asuna reasoned with a shrug," He came on his own. You guys should've came too though."

"I think she'll need some...fine-tuning before she joins the team." Kiriko remarked, appearing quite unimpressed with her eyes narrowed at Asuna.

"Kiriko, if you don't really like her you can just say it..." Nova said sheepishly.

As the group started to gather their things to head to class, Kiriko started to question just how she would be able to get Asuna alone to tell her about the Pretty Cure. It seemed like quite the task as Asuna was almost never seen without her friends and telling Asuna in front of her friends was definitely not an option. Kiriko could just picture it now; She'd walked straight up to Asuna, tell she's been chosen to fight against an evil forces from another world and get laughed at by Asuna and her friends. Just the thought of it made Kiriko shudder as she stood up from her hiding spot.

"Hey Asuna, are you still going to the library with us after school today?" One of the girls asked as they started to walk to class.

"Yeah, I've got some assignments I gotta finish before tomorrow and I focus better there." Asuna answered.

"So she'll be at the school's library..." Kiriko noted as she watched the group of first-years walk to class," But even at the library, I'll be stuck in the same situation I am now."

"I've got an idea!" Nova interjected," Show her your PlayPact."

"Why? When I'm not using it, it just looks like a regular compact mirror. That isn't going to convince Asuna she's a Pretty Cure." Kiriko responded flatly as she walked into the schools, making sure Nova wasn't seen from her bag.

"Not unless she opens it." Nova stated, taking out Kiriko's PlayPact from her bag," You can program it to tell Asuna all about being a Pretty Cure when she opens it."

"I can? Wait, but what about her friends?" Kiriko pointed out," Knowing Asuna, she might open in front of them and then all of a sudden, everyone of them knows about Asuna being a Pretty Cure."

"Then tell her to open it when she's alone." Nova replied,"Her friends won't know about it then plus, she'll probably take it more seriously out of their company."

"What do you mean by that?" Kiriko asked quietly, before she entered class. She decided to drop the topic and save it for later.

During the school day, Kiriko started to think about how exactly she was supposed to give Asuna her PlayPact. She thought of many ways, though most of them didn't seem to be the best method of action. Finally, she decided that she was going to place her PlayPact in a bag and tell Asuna she forgot it at the cafe. Next, she would leave quickly so Asuna wouldn't have the chance to return it to her until tomorrow.

While the plan seemed to be usable, there were some issues still evident in it. Going through with the plan meant that Kiriko would have to trust Asuna with her PlayPact and therefore leaving Kiriko unable to fight if Jack or Domino appeared. Kiriko started to wonder whether or not the risk to leave her PlayPact with Asuna was too great. Kiriko sighed as she took notes in class. All of this would've been easier if Asuna was already friends with her. It would've been nice if Asuna had been in third-year just like her, or even on the student council. Better yet, she could've been both. Then Kiriko imagined that she was in first-year with Asuna and was in her friend group. Kiriko seemed to favor that idea more than the others as she smiled to herself. Just then, Kiriko snapped back to her senses and felt somewhat embarrassed for thinking like that.

The school day had come to an end and just as Kiriko was about to leave the school to head to the library, she walked into Hayase.

"Kiriko, I haven't seen you since the cafe incident last week. Did something happen?" Hayase asked in concern.

"Oh yeah that's right, I had a family emergency and I had to leave immediately. I'm really sorry for that." Kiriko explained, feeling a bit guilty for lying to him.

"It's fine, next time tell me though ok?" Hayase requested, receiving a nod from Kiriko," I'll see you on Thursday ok?"

"I feel kinda bad now, I didn't really think about seeing Hayase and telling him, well lying to him about what happened. Come to think of it, I don't even remember paying for meal." Kiriko thought aloud before she realized what probably had happened," Hayase must've paid for me. Great, well I guess I'll just have to pay him back on Thursday. I don't really have time to waste right now!"

Asuna and her friends were assembled at the library, gathered around one of the library's larger tables to do their homework. For once, the group wasn't as loud as they usually were. Sure, some of the boys were still chatting away while the rest of the group worked, but this was likely the quietest they'd ever get. Most of the librarians at the library today took notice, and some were even surprised that the typically noisy group of first-years from the school down the road were actually working peacefully today. Asuna was working away on an assignment, tuning out her louder friends and looked through her notes carefully. Nobody else seemed to notice how hard Asuna was working today except for her best friend, Misa.

"I don't think I've seen you do this much schoolwork in like...ever." Misa remarked as she poked Asuna with her pen," Did you do bad on some test?"

Asuna then opened up her binder next to her and revealed her latest assignment's grade. The assignment had a forty percent written on it in red ink.

"That answer your question?" Asuna responded flatly," I just need to catch up on this past week's readings and notes and then, I should be good. And you know what? I think I wanna make a habit of this. Every Tuesday, I want to work on all my homework here in the library, free of distractions and bad energies so I can maintain my grades and stuff."

"And so you can keep doing whatever you want during the rest of the week right?" Misa asked.

"Exactly."

Asuna then took a pause from her work and looked around at her group of friends. Misa and her other best friend Amari were working on homework just like she was, except the two of them seemed less focused as Misa was doodling and Amari appeared to have been scrolling through an app on her phone rather than researching for her assignment. The other girls in the group, Momo and Tomoko, took a break from their homework and began to eat snacks and fix their makeup. All but two of the boys were just either talking to each other, or going through their phones though their notebooks and binders had been opened up and laying on the table.

Doing homework together like this was nice for a change. Considering most of the time the group did nothing but slack off in class and in each other's company, it was almost refreshing for Asuna to see her friends actually tend to their studies.

 _"Every weekend and everyday is pretty much the same for us."_ Asuna thought to herself _," We'll hang out before and after class, we go to all the same parties on the weekends, something we might spice things up and go to one of our houses to study. I guess I like doing these things but right now, it's just...it all feels the same. I need something to make things exciting again. "_

Only then did Asuna realize that Misa was trying to get her attention as she kept whispering Asuna's name.

"Are you seeing these two right now?" Misa whispered as she pointed out Tomoko and Yutaro teasing each other. Misa raised her eyebrows and moments later, the rest of the group caught on to them, laughing at the pair while a few of them made hearts with their hands in front of them.

"Not the kinda excitement I was looking for..." Asuna said under her breath.

"Hey isn't that girl over there from our school?" Momo asked as she pointed out a girl with short dark blue hair casually looking through a book a few aisles away from them.

"Are you dumb? That's vice-president Kiriko!" Amari chided as she tried to get a better look at Kiriko.

Asuna looked closely at Kiriko reading the book in her hands. Asuna didn't know her all that well, but she was able to recognize her without Amari's statement. From what Asuna knew about her, Kiriko was a calm, mature student on student council who was usually seen either by herself or with other members of the council. Kiriko always seemed to a bit on the quieter side, but it made her seem more interesting that way. Even while simply holding a book in the library, Kiriko seemed to be much more compelling than the others around her. Kiriko seemed neutral in expression, she always did and somehow, it never failed to bother Asuna but at the same time, it made Asuna curious about her too.

"Could I be what they call, one of the lucky ones?" Domino asked aloud to no one in particular as he sat on a low brick fence near the library. He thought about how his last meeting with Lilith went and smiled to himself.

 _"Domino, exactly why did you fail me just like Jack did? I expected much better from you. Don't you know I rely on you more than anybody else here?" Lilith asked in distress as she looked Domino straight in the eyes._

 _"Oh really? Then how come I was the one to go first? Wouldn't that mean you trust me more than him?" Jack called out from the other side of the room._

 _"Trusted. I trusted you, as in past tense, as in no more."Lilith declared in a deadpan voice." You let me down not once but twice in a row. And for that Jack, you suck."_

 _"Gee thanks." Jack replied in a sarcastic voice._

 _"Relax Lili, I was only testing the strengths of my enemy. It was all for my analysis." Domino reassured her._

 _"Analysis?" Lilith repeated unsurely._

 _"Yes, what I did during my first encounter with Cure Dolly was to figure out what tactics would and wouldn't work on her. I had studied her attentively during that time." Domino explained, while Jack snickered on his side of the room," And, I have pinpointed her weaknesses and determined what needs to be done in order to end her for good."_

 _"So, she'll be gone after your next encounter? And I won't have to send Bounce out to make up for your failures?" Lilith questioned, sounding oddly hopefully._

 _Domino smiled to her," There won't be any need for that."_

"I can't believe she trusts me as much as she does." Domino remarked in a rather smug tone," Then again, maybe it's not that she trusts me very much but rather...she just doesn't trust Jack as much as she used to."

"Either way, I've been given another chance to end the Pretty Cure! This is an opportunity that I cannot waste under any circumstances!" Domino said to himself, moments before a little boy no older than ten appeared before him.

Domino stared at the boy intently and took out his vial from before.

"Is it me or does it look like vice-president Kiriko's walking over to our table?" Amari asked as she and the rest of the group took notice of Kiriko walking towards them.

One of the boys, Reo spoke up saying," I swear if she's coming over here to tell us to keep it down when we're not even at school I'll-"

"Will you shut up for once in your life?" Asuna yell-whispered as she watched Kiriko walk closer to them. Kiriko seemed far from her usual self right now. Instead of the reserved, calm girl that she always appeared to be, Kiriko was looking somewhat anxious as she inched closer to the group. It seemed weird, but it was enough to grab Asuna's attention.

Kiriko was in front of the group, holding a small, pale blue drawstring bag in her hands. She paid no mind to the rest of the group staring at her and directed her attention to only Asuna.

 _"No mistake about it. Even with all the stares I can feel burning into me and all this fear building up, I can still sense her magic as clear as ever. It feels so strong, could it be that she already knows about her powers?"_ Kiriko said in her head.

"So Little Miss Vice-pres, to what do we owe this visit?" Asuna asked audaciously, surprising the entirety of her group.

"Yo Asuna, you can't talk to her like that!" One of the boys scolded in a whisper, making Kiriko more uncomfortable.

"Well, you see, the other day it seemed that-" Kiriko stammered, just a few moments before the cry of a Defective was heard through the entire library. It's cry was louder than than the Defective's before it. It was so loud that everyone in the vicinity pressed their ears shut impulsively at the sound of it.

"I'll...never mind. We can pick this back up tomorrow after school ok?" Kiriko offered as she dashed out of the library.

"Asuna, you scared her away!" Reo jeered, with some of the other girls laughing in response.

"No, it wasn't me dipstick." Asuna responded, too quietly for the rest of the group to hear as she got up from her seat, debating on whether or not she should run after Kiriko," Did she know what made that sound?"

"So nice of you to join us Cure Dolly! Now the fun can really begin." Domino exclaimed as he stood atop his Defective, made from a record player.

"Exactly where did you find that thing?" Dolly questioned incredulously as she gawked at the Defective.

"What? I can't make Defectives out of my own possessions?" Domino asked in mock defense as he jumped off of the Defective so it could begin attacking Cure Dolly.

"That only raises more questions..." Cure Dolly said to herself as she ran towards the Defective at full speed.

Asuna ran as fast as she could, hoping she would be able to catch up to Kiriķo. Her friends had been calling after her when she left without a word. They were all shouting like 'Where are you going?' and 'What are you doing?' What was she doing? Asuna wasn't even sure herself but something was telling her, no, it was begging her, to follow after Kiriko.

It looked like Kiriko had something to do with the noise from before, so maybe there was more to Kiriko than meets the eye. When Kiriko heard that sound, Asuna noticed that Kiriko was much more alarmed than anyone else around.

Asuna was beginning to doubt her suspicions as she thought more about it. She was questioning why she cared so much about what Kiriko was up to as she ran but she didn't stop chasing after Kiriko for even a second.

"My life must be way more boring than I realized if I'm running after some girl I barely know." Asuna muttered to herself.

Cure Dolly was tossed against the pavement and lied on the ground for a few moments, wincing at the pain. The Defective towered above her and stared at her sinisterly.

"You might be quick but unfortunately for you, you're very predictable. You won't last long here Cure Dolly. I'm afraid you've met your match." Domino concluded.

"Don't be so sure of that!" Dolly yelled as she slowly stood up. The pain hit her like a ton of bricks as she arose. Dolly wished that she didn't have to be in this situation all by herself right now, which somewhat surprised her considering she hadn't ever felt that way before when fighting a Defective. Dolly figured it was because of the fact that she knew she had a teammate, well was going to have a teammate now.

"Cure Dolly isn't doing so great out there...I wish I do something to help her about right now..." Nova said to herself in frustration as she watched Dolly fight against the Defective," Maybe I could go find Asuna, and tell her about the Pretty Cure. But she's with her friends and the last thing Kiriko wanted was to have Asuna find out in their company. Why did the human world have to follow so many pointless rules?"

"Just what the hell is that thing?" Nova heard a familiar voice from behind her ask. Standing behind her was Asuna, heaving in her breaths from running all the way here. Nova stared at her in disbelief for a few moments as Asuna took in her surroundings. Asuna just noticed Dolly fighting against the Defective and narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously.

"And just who the hell is that?" Asuna asked as she stared at Cure Dolly.

"Asuna, you came!" Nova blurted out, quickly getting Asuna's attention. Nova felt a bit regretful in her actions for a moment as Asuna knelt down in front of her and eyed her curiously.

"And what are you supposed to be?"

Asuna was somewhat intimidating up close, and Nova panicked until she remembered that Dolly was struggling in battle all by herself.

"My name's Nova and I come from a land distant from here. I was sent here to stop those people who are making those monsters by finding the Pretty Cure. I don't know how many members there are supposed to be, but right now I know that there are two of them."

"Is she's one of those Pretty Cures you're talking about?" Asuna asked as she pointed to Dolly, with Nova nodding in response," That's only one, so where's the other?"

"I'm talking to her." Nova answered," As crazy as this might sound, you're a chosen one just like her. You have powers flowing through you that myself and that girl have been able to feel in your presence. Will you help us?"

Asuna stared at her a few moments, unsure of what to do.

Domino watched Dolly fought against his Defective with a rather amused look on his face as his Defective threw Dolly into an empty pool. Domino laughed aloud as Dolly tried getting up.

"Are you ready to admit defeat Miss Dolly?" Domino asked delightfully," Or will I have to watch you get tossed around like a useless rag-doll a few more times?"

The Defective started blaring music backwards and caused Cure Dolly to clamp her ears shut impulsively.

"Well, if you're that insistent on fighting, then I suppose that means I'll have to get serious about this." Domino stated," I've done my research and I've came to the conclusion that you can't stand cacophony!"

"Your analysis was generalized, I don't know anyone who does!" Dolly snapped as she continued to press her ears shut.

"It's still working though, isn't it?" Domino pointed out.

Asuna then walked closer to the empty pool, headphones in her ears at full blast and shouted," What do you think you're doing?"

"Wow, would you look at this? A human who doesn't mind the sounds that my Defective is churning out!" Domino remarked in astonishment, unaware of the fact that Asuna had headphones in.

Asuna ignored him and yelled,"This isn't right! Keep it up and someone's going to get seriously hurt."

Domino seemed to have been getting irritated with Asuna not actually listening to him and responded with," Well what does it have to do with you? You don't have to a part of this, you can just run off and go back to living your normal life."

"That Defective could attack any moment, and Asuna won't be able to put up a fight..." Dolly said to herself as she climbed out of the empty pool," I don't care if she's the next Pretty Cure or not right now, letting Asuna stay here would be putting her in danger."

Just as Dolly was going to tell Asuna to run away, Asuna then said suddenly,

"I'm staying."

Everyone in the vicinity stared at Asuna, who seemed quite determined as she glared at Domino. Domino seemed bewildered but the thought of Asuna staying didn't seem to bother him now.

"Ah I see, so you want to help me fuel my Defective with all of your own magic? You seem to have quite a bit on you, why not share some of it?" Domino offered as the Defective went to grab her.

"You're not gonna use me to make your stupid Defectoid or whatever the heck it's called stronger! I'm gonna put a stop to you right now!" Asuna shouted.

Just then, a blinding burst of orange light appeared out from Asuna. Everyone shielded their eyes at the sight of it, except for Asuna who was inside the dome of light.

The light around Asuna was warm and bright, but as blinding as it appeared from outside. Asuna's eyes were opened wide as she looked around herself, seeing nothing but the pale orange light.

"Asuna, your time has come!" Nova exclaimed cheerfully as she appeared before Asuna.

"I died?" Asuna asked incredulously," Well that was a lame way to go."

"No, you're not dead. You're ready to become a Pretty Cure now!" Nova explained, just before a dark brown and tan compact mirror that looked like Kiriko's appeared before Asuna.

Asuna held the compact in her hands and eyed it with a confused look on her face, asking," What next?"

"Just shout 'Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!' and the rest will come naturally." Nova instructed with Asuna nodding in response.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" Asuna shouted, as a multitude of orange and brown lights appeared from the PlayPact.

The lights swirled around Asuna and Asuna looked at them in surprise. The lights first covered her body and replaced her uniform with a light brown button-up with a ribbon around her neck, a pair of burnt orange shorts with frills at the bottom and pale orange suspenders. She then held out her hands and then a pair fingerless taupe gloves with light brown ribbons materialized on them. She looked at them curiously for a few moments, until the lights swarmed to her back and her feet. The light at her her backs created a large brown bow and the lights and on her legs appeared a pair of pale brown knee-high socks along with a pair of brown heels with bows on them. Asuna then twirled around and then, her hair was gathered into a pair of large buns, reminiscent of teddy bear ears. Her hair turned into a medium shade brown as a pair of dark brown bows appeared to secure the buns.

Lastly, her green eyes turned dark brown and she struck a pose.

"The dame of hope, Cure Teddy!" She announced.

Cure Dolly looked at her new teammate at a loss of words. She sure did look a lot different, appearing very confident and serious as she glared the Defective.

"I've had enough of you." Teddy declared impatiently to the Defective.


	6. Bonding

Cure Dolly looked at her new teammate and watched as Cure Teddy ran up towards the Defective. Teddy was much more in control of her powers than Dolly expected and to her surprise,Teddy didn't even appear to be the slightest bit confused as to what she was supposed to do. However, Teddy's fighting skills were lacking. Despite understanding the situation, Teddy was clumsy in movement, which was expected of her since this was her first fight with a Defective.

Dolly's eyes widened as she remembered that Teddy was going to need her help.

Teddy dodged a set of punches from the Defective but was suddenly grabbed by it as soon as it lunged for her.

Teddy writhed around in the Defective's grasp restlessly as Cure Dolly came to her aid.

"Cure Teddy, I got you!" Dolly shouted as she ran to the scene.

The Defective then threw Teddy into Dolly and the two collided. Teddy's fall was broken by Dolly, who seemed out of it from having Teddy on her.

"Thanks." Teddy commented before she quickly got up and resumed her fight with the Defective.

"Don't mention it." Dolly responded weakly as she stood up _," The girl's not breaking a sweat! She doesn't even seem scared."_

Cure Teddy stood in front of the Defective and stared it down as she tried to devise a plan. She examined the structure and body of the Defective carefully. Would breaking off the needle from it's body have any effect? Maybe plugging up the speaker of the instrument would've done the trick. As all these plans started to circle through Teddy's mind, she felt a surge of adrenaline flow within her. Teddy had never really considered herself as someone who enjoyed creating strategies and deploying tactics in situations like this, but there's something about this whole experience that felt almost, uplifting to her.

"Hey, blondie." Cure Teddy called out, her back to Dolly as she continued to stare the Defective,"Are you gonna hop in on this?"

Dolly seemed a bit startled momentarily, not realizing that Teddy took notice of the fact that she hadn't been doing much since Teddy's arrival, and quickly gathered herself before she ran up to Teddy.

Dolly stood next to her fellow Cure then cleared her throat," That's a Defective, it's made from the negative energy of regular humans. In order to revert it back in a normal record player we need to deplete it of all it's energy so we can get a chance to purify it."

"In order words...?" Teddy responded, sounding unsure of what she needed to do before the Defective blared a sound wave in their direction. The two Cures jumped up high in opposite directions.

"We gotta fight it!" Dolly shouted to her teammate in mid-air.

Teddy grinned enthusiastically in response and she jumped towards the Defective while yelling," That's just what I wanted to hear!"

Dolly landed back on the ground as she watched Teddy jump up higher from a tree and down towards the Defective. She delivered a punch so strong it sent the Defective flying a few feet backwards, leaving Domino shocked and Dolly speechless. Dolly watched Teddy incredulously as the girl continued to fight as if she was thoroughly enjoying it. It made her appear as ruthless, but also a tad frightening.

"She fights recklessly and heedless of the danger she could bring to others and to herself." Domino commented, his eyes wide still being in surprise of what was happening right before him," Woman, have you gone mad?"

"I'm not mad!" Teddy shouted back to him as she drive a kick into the Defective's core," I'm having fun!"

"Having fun." Dolly repeated quietly, her tone filled with disbelief," If I had known she was going to enjoy this so much, I would've asked her sooner."

Dolly joined in on their battle moments after. At first, it seemed like Dolly was only being a hindrance to Teddy as she struggled to take part and work alongside her fellow Cure. Teddy was quick like Dolly but what Teddy seem to have in abundance was power. Dolly didn't really notice it until now, but for the majority of the battle, Teddy was delivering attacks with unrivaled strength. And it was apparent that Teddy wasn't giving it her all yet as she still had plenty of stamina left.

"How is she able to fight like that?" Dolly thought to herself just before a sound wave came whirling towards her. Dolly was already quite alert and held her hand in front of herself instinctively as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"

The gust of wind decimated the sound wave and started to seek out the Defective. Soon enough, it spotted the Defective and the gust of wind knocked the Defective off of it's feet. Teddy finally stood still briefly and looked down at the Defective before turning her attention to Dolly, asking her," How'd you do that?"

"I...It's kinda tough to explain..." Dolly confessed sheepishly. Dolly rushed over to Teddy and the Defective that was no longer moving. Teddy then walked closer to the Defective and removed the record from it. She then split the record over her knee.

Dolly stared at the broken record Teddy held in her hands, her eyes wide with astonishment as Teddy simply dropped the two halves on the ground.

"That oughta do the trick." Teddy declared with Dolly nodding vigorously in response.

"Now you need to purify it!" Dolly instructed," Or, perhaps I should do it instead."

"No, let me handle this. Just tell me how it's done." Teddy insisted as she put a hand in front of Dolly. Dolly tried to remember exactly what was needed in order to start a purification when Nova flew towards them.

"Concentrate on the flow of your magic and release all that concentrated power to the Defective!" Nova explained.

Teddy seemed skeptical, looking down at her hands as she replied with," The flow of my what? Are you this is what I gotta do?"

"It's not all about fighting you know..." Dolly said in an irritated voice, with Teddy shrugging off her response.

Teddy did as instructed and closed her eyes, trying to focussed as instructed. Dolly took note of the fact that Teddy seemed to have been having a harder time doing this then fighting with the Defective. Soon enough, she got the hang of it and the atmosphere around them became a very pale orange and gold colour.

"Pretty Cure, Hopeful Charm!" Teddy shouted. The Defective was purified and reverted back into it's regular form.

Dolly looked around for Domino, it appeared that he had taken his leave for the day without notice and the two Cures were left by themselves. Teddy finally got a chance to get a better look at her outfit now and she seemed to be somewhat unpleased with what she was wearing as she harrowed her eyes at her clothes.

"You don't like it?" Cure Dolly asked cautiously while Teddy was still inspecting her outfit.

"No, it's just not what I'm used to..." Teddy answered answered as she took a hold of the suspenders of her outfit," I like these things though."

Dolly reversed her transformation and Kiriko merely looked at her new teammate while deep in thought.

 _"I don't think I've ever seen anything like that, she just fought like she didn't have a care in the world and without reason. She didn't really understand what was going on, but she didn't seem to care, she just wanted to head straight into action. And she was good at it too, maybe better than me."_ Kiriko thought to herself.

Teddy reversed her transformation and Asuna finally directed her attention to Kiriko. Asuna looked her straight in the eyes and said,

"I better be getting an explanation to all this."

Kiriko nodded attentively and then Nova took over from there.

"I'd rather explain this all in a more secretive place, maybe Kiriko's house would be a good spot?" Nova suggested, though Kiriko seemed unreasonably alarmed at just the thought of it.

Kiriko then began ramble,"My parents might have come home already and I don't want them listening in on us and-"

"-Then let's just go to my place." Asuna suggested flatly, though Kiriko only seemed more alarmed in response,"What? Unicorn here says we gotta talk about this in secret."

"I know, I just didn't expect you to offer your house as a spot for us to talk about this..." Kiriko explained sheepishly," But if you're ok with it, then sure. Let's go to your place."

And so, the three of them walked to Asuna's house in silence. Asuna claimed that her house wasn't really that far from here so it only made sense to her that they should go to her place. However, it seemed that Asuna had a much different meaning of 'far from here' than Kiriko did. Kiriko only expected the group to have been walking for ten, fifteen at the very most minutes but it seemed their walk to Asuna's house wasn't going to come to an end very soon.

Finally, after about forty minutes or so, they made it to Asuna's house.

Asuna's house was average in appearance and size. When the three of them walked in, they found out that they weren't home alone. As Kiriko took in her surroundings, she almost didn't notice Asuna's mother in the kitchen making dinner.

The living room was was just like any other. The walls were painted a rich shade of brown and pictures of Asuna as a child and who appeared to be her older sibling could be found on one of the side tables. Kiriko felt as if she had seen the boy from somewhere, but didn't get a chance to get a better look at the photo.

Asuna's mom left the kitchen to greet the two of them. She looked a lot like Asuna with her red hair, tied up into a bun and green eyes. Asuna's mother seemed a lot more friendly than Asuna did though.

"Mom, this is my classmate Kiriko, we'll be upstairs in my room for a bit." Asuna introduced as she stiffly waved her hand in Kiriko's direction.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kiriko!" Asuna's mother said kindly, " Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Ah, no thanks. I won't be able to stay too long anyways." Kiriko answered awkwardly as Asuna led her upstairs.

Asuna's room was admittedly quite the sight for Kiriko. For someone who had a room she called a Pastel Palace, one would've thought Kiriko wouldn't have had much interest in Asuna's room. The bedroom was painted a pastel orange and very large posters of various singers and bands were taped onto the walls. Sunlight was flowing in was from Asuna's windows that had been decorated with stickers of video game characters and mahogany curtains. Her room was also quite warm, which something Kiriko was quietly relishing it as she was actually the type get cold easily.

Kiriko carefully sat down on Asuna's computer desk chair and removed Nova from her bag. Nova seemed to quite like Asuna's room as she looked around interestedly from Kiriko's lap. Asuna took a seat on her bed and waited for Nova to start explaining.

Once Nova realized the two of them were waiting on her, she froze up for a second," _Damn, Rani's a lot better at explaining the mission. It'd be much better if she was here."_

Nova then cleared her throat before she said," Ok Asuna, here's the deal. We need you for our mission. Me and my friend Rani come from the Laruan Kingdom, don't ask where it is it's much farther than you'd think, and we need, you and Kiriko to help save our world from those goons from Asperity. Asperity's leader is Lilith, Lilith is a super-mean woman who just wants to watch the Laruan Kingdom come to an end. Lilith had attacked us before but back then, we had this other Pretty Cure named Cure Cheer who protected Laruan Kingdom for us. Cure Cheer was really strong but unfortunately, she just wasn't strong enough against Lilith and even though she did defeat her, she ended up losing her life in the process. And now, Lilith has made a return. She's been successful in stealing the Well of Wonder that gives our kingdom magic and she had taken who was supposed to be our next ruler, Princess Arabella, with her."

Kiriko seemed slightly unimpressed with Nova, scrutinizing the small unicorn as she thought to herself, _"What the hell Nova? That explanation was so all over the place, there's no way she's going to understand all tha-!"_

"-Ok, I get it." Asuna responded neutrally," But, how come me and Vice-pres over here were chosen to be Pretty Cures? Just what makes us so special?"

Kiriko still seemed surprised that Asuna understood all that, but then that last question from Asuna got stuck in her head. Kiriko never really thought about it like before.

"Most humans from your world suffer from a dreadful condition I call lack of magic. Lots of them only have maybe a fraction of what our weakest civilians at Laruan Kingdom have." Nova explained," You two however, have an abundance of magic flowing from within you."

"So then, why not recruit someone from your world?" Asuna suggested. By the tone of her voice, it didn't sound as if she was unhappy with being chosen as Pretty Cure, she only sounded curious.

"We figured nobody from Laruan Kingdom would want to take on such a task with morale being very low right now. And since Lilith was going to come for your world, we figured it'd be best if we looked for humans from earth as you'd feel more inclined to help." Nova answered, averting her gaze from the two of them, " And when I said you guys had a lot of magic, I was being serious. We weren't looking for humans with just as much magic as those from Laruan Kingdom, we knew we had to search for those who had magic that was much stronger than theirs. And sure, you guys might not have had a chance to practice using it or anything but, even so, it's actually...really hard to explain how strong your magic is from our perspective."

Kiriko and Asuna fell quiet for a few moments. The thought that they had magic stronger than people who used it more than them felt so strange. It made Kiriko feel almost guilty at the very thought of it, but it made Asuna feel important and needed.

"So how do those monsters get made? Vicey here said that they were made from negative energy, is that all it needs?" Asuna questioned.

 _"Vicey?"_ Kiriko thought to herself.

"True, in order to make a Defective, it seems that all that is needed is negative energy from humans. But, it's not...normal negative energy. It's energy made from a corrupted Patchwork Heart, created by those people from Asperity." Nova responded, a serious look now appearing on her face," What they're doing isn't right, they're just going to use all that energy to create a world of magic made from sorrow and grief."

"We can't let that happen." Kiriko chimed in, sounding just as serious as Nova," I know a lot of this sounds really unbelievable but, I don't think I'd be able to do this alone so, will you continue to fight with me?"

"Sure." Asuna answered, sounding way too nonchalant for Kiriko's liking.

"Really? You don't have any reservations, or prior obligations? You're not even the slightest bit scared?" Kiriko probed, to the point where she was starting to annoy Asuna.

"Yeah, I get it. We're strong and they want us to help. Why wouldn't I say yes?" Asuna asked as a large grin appeared on her face," Plus, all that fighting and stuff, it was really exciting!"

 _"She's missing the point but...at least she's interested in helping us."_ Kiriko thought to herself," I'm really glad to have you on the team Asuna!"

"Ah, by the way, I had one question I needed to ask you." Asuna informed her," Why did you come to talk to me at the library? I'm doubting it's because I actually left something at the cafe."

"Oh, well...inside the bag I was planning to give to you was my PlayPact." Kiriko answered uneasily.

That transformation box thingy? Why were you going to give me that?" Asuna interrogated.

Kiriko nearly forgot all about that ever since Asuna became Cure Teddy. Kiriko gave her an awkward smile and simply turned her gaze to her lap where Nova was sitting.

"I did it because the PlayPact had been set to tell you about the Pretty Cure. As soon as you were going to open it, the PlayPact was going to explain everything to you, so that I wouldn't have to in front of you and all of your friends." Kiriko explained bashfully. Looking back at the plan now, it did seem quite risky. Kiriko looked up and expected to see a disapproving look of on Asuna's face but instead, she saw only confusion.

"Why did you do that, knowing that something could've easily gone wrong?" Asuna questioned as she reached into her bag in front of her and took out her own PlayPact," This thing is important to you right? So how come you were so trusting of me, when we barely even know each other?"

"I felt like I had no other choice."Kiriko confessed," I wanted to believe that you were going to be the next Pretty Cure and, I was right."

Another awkward silence fell upon them.

"You know what? Let's change that." Kiriko declared as a smile appeared to her face," Do you want to go to the mall or something on the weekend? That way, we can hang out and you know, get to know each other."

Asuna's eyes widened, she really wasn't expecting Kiriko to be so willing to befriend her so soon. Still, she kept her composure and simply nodded in response.

"Sounds good to me, we can figure out the details later in the week." Asuna offered before she handed Kiriko her phone," Put your number in."

Kiriko did as instructed and put her number in Asuna's phone. When she gave Asuna her phone back, she checked the time and found out that it was getting late.

"I should probably get going, next time when we hang out I'll bring the other fairy, Rani for you to meet her." Kiriko declared as she started to gather her things. Once Kiriko was ready, Asuna led her downstairs. The lower level was a lot quieter now, Asuna's mom just left the house to go get some groceries. The only other person in the house was Asuna's older brother, sitting at the kitchen counter.

"Hey Kiriko," Asuna's older brother said to her as Kiriko and Asuna walked towards the door.

"Hey Tadashi," Kiriko said, before she stopped in her tracks for a moment and then looked at Tadashi in confusion," What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I live here?" Tadashi responded with a chuckle," I should be asking you that question."

Kiriko's eyes opened wide, realization hitting her hard," You two are siblings?"

Asuna seemed somewhat unimpressed with Kiriko, but said nothing and Tadashi just looked at her in disbelief. Kiriko and Tadashi were both members of the student council, Kiriko knew him pretty well, maybe not as well as she originally thought and would've gone as far as considering him one of her closest friends at school.

"I'm pretty sure I've already told you that." Tadashi replied, noticing how embarrassed Kiriko looked as she lowered her gaze to the floor," It's ok if you don't remember, it's not like we ever hang around each other at school."

Kiriko looked at the of them sheepishly and took note of how similar the two of them looked. Even though Asuna's hair was red and Tadashi was more of a brunette, they had the same face structure and same green eyes.

 _"That might also be why Asuna looked so familiar..."_ Kiriko thought to herself as she put on her shoes," I'll see you guys at school tomorrow ok?"

Asuna held the door open for her and the two siblings waved goodbye to her. Once Kiriko was gone, Asuna closed back the door and was met with a suspicious look from her brother. She seemed to have been caught off-guard as she looked at her brother.

"What is it?" Asuna asked, sounding a bit uncomfortable as she walked into the kitchen.

"Why did you bring Kiriko over?" Tadashi asked curiously," I thought you wanted nothing to do with my friends at school."

"She just had to give me something I left at the cafe she works at over the weekend. She won't be coming back here again." Asuna answered sternly as she grabbed a muffin from the counter top, keeping her gaze away from Tadashi.

"It's ok if she does! I think you and Kiriko would actually make good friends." Tadashi claimed defensively," You know I even think she could be a big help in getting you and-"

"-Shut up." Asuna interrupted impatiently as she left to go back upstairs. Tadashi simply shook his head in response.

During the week, Kiriko and Asuna went out their week as they usually did, and saw very little of each other. Their classes were on opposite ends of the school and the two of them made little effort to see each other during the week. For now, it felt like an unspoken rule between them that they weren't going to hang around each other at school so suspicions wouldn't arise amongst their classmates, as it did with Tadashi.

The girls made plans to hang at the mall on Saturday to get to know each other as planned. On Saturday morning, Kiriko arrived at Asuna's place and rung her doorbell. Today, Kiriko wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a black blouse and a grey cardigan. As she waited, Kiriko adjusted her ponytail secured by a lilac telephone cord elastic. Rani and Nova were tagging along today and the two of them flew out from her bag. Kiriko had gotten used to the pair flying out from her bag when no one was around, but today Kiriko didn't appear as lenient and signaled to them of them to go back inside her bag.

"That bag is way stuffier than your other ones!" Nova complained as Rani coughed behind her.

Kiriko gave the two of them a pitied look," Sorry guys, I just got this bag so I guess it still has that brand new smell to it. But I don't want to risk you guys being seen by regular people, what if Asuna's mom or Tadashi open that door and see you guys?"

The two of them saw Kiriko's concern as reasonable and sat on top of the shoulder bag.

"So what is Asuna like?" Rani asked inquisitively," You guys told me she was a good fighter, but you didn't tell about her personality. Is studious and reserved like Kiriko? And friendly too? Oh yeah and-"

Just then, the door swung open and Asuna stood in the doorway. Kiriko smiled to her nervously and Asuna examined her from head to toe with an unamused look on her face.

"You look like you're going to an office job." Asuna remarked. Kiriko could offer nothing more than a forced laugh.

"Good morning to you too." Kiriko responded awkwardly," By the way, this is Rani."

Rani then flew toward Asuna and said cheerfully," It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Back at ya." Asuna answered as she stared at Rani for a few moments,"So, are you ready?"

Kiriko nodded and the two of them walked to them bus stop. The two girls waited around in silence, waiting for the other to say something. Originally, Kiriko was glad to be going to the mall with only Asuna, but now she seemed to have been thinking differently.

 _"I really thought this was going to be much easier with just the two of us and no big group of friends involved, but now this just feels a bit more intimidating."_ Kiriko thought to herself while holding back on a sigh," _I should've considered this before and maybe made some notes of conversation topics to use but no as usual I was too busy this week to think ahead. But I can't get discouraged now!"_

"Kiriko," Asuna then said, snapping Kiriko right back to her senses.

"Yeah, what's up?" Kiriko asked as she turned to Asuna expectantly _," Yes! She's going to start the conversation!"_

"The bus is here." Asuna said tonelessly as she pointed in the direction the bus was coming from.

Kiriko seemed evidently disappointed as she wore a blank look on her face while saying," Ah, thanks."

The two of them got on the bus and sat next to each other. The both of them remained silent, with Kiriko staring down at her lap and Asuna staring out the window. While the two sat quietly, they were both lost in thought for different reasons.

 _"For Asuna, this is probably a normal outing to the mall, well almost normal. She probably doesn't know that I don't get to do this very often."_ Kiriko said in her head, _" It's exciting, yet nerve-wracking."_

Kiriko continued to stare down at her lap, feeling disappointed in herself. Not only had she been gifted another teammate who knew a thing or about fighting but she also got the chance to make a new friend. But of course, her inept social skills just weren't going to let her make use of this chance. Kiriko was already feeling defeat and the day had barely even started. Maybe it would've helped to have been in a bigger group, or at the very least, bring at least one extra person. Kiriko was in disbelief of how useless she was feeling right now.

 _"I'm overthinking things, I can make this work."_ Kiriko thought to herself.

Asuna was looking out the window, with an abject look in her eye. She leaned against the window her arm pressing against the cold glass. While she had been in truth excited for this time together with Kiriko, something had been bothering her since yesterday. Late last night, while she was going to bed, she was thinking about how different her life would become if any of her friends found out about her secret alter-ego. The very thought of it made her uneasy as she could just imagine the look on their faces when they'd find out. The girls would probably act thrilled for her while the boys would make fun of her outfit but still, they'd all realize that their friend was hiding a secret life from them. And, they'd likely consider her an outsider because she had powers greater than they would've ever known.

It was frustrating to know that she'd had to continue living with this giant secret for awhile, it made her wonder if Kiriko was dealing with the same issues. Asuna wanted to ask her about it, but wanted to save it for later and just keep things casual for now.

"Um, is everything ok? You look like you got a lot on your mind." Kiriko asked her.

Asuna then responded in an unconvincing voice with," Don't worry about it. I think we're almost here."

Kiriko looked out the windows on the other side of the bus and nodded, though she was still concerned about Asuna. They got off the bus and walked to the mall's entrance.

Elsewhere at Asperity, Domino was overlooking a blueprint he made just for his teammate that was going to be sent out to defeat the Pretty Cure today. Ever since his own last encounter with the Pretty Cure, Domino had been feeling shameful and slighted, so to make it up to Lilith, he made the decision to create a new plan to end the Pretty Cure that included much more critical thinking, deeper analyzing and better strategies than before. He was expecting himself to feel proud in his plan, but he felt like it wasn't enough somehow. The blueprint was large and rolled up, and looked like newspaper.

Jack and a girl a whole head shorter than him then walked into the room. The girl appeared to be in her teens and had bright green hair that fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were amber and she dressed like a tomboy. She had on a pair of white shorts with a black spiral design on one of the pant legs, a neon green t-shirt with a ghost on it under a dark grey sleeveless hoodie, and black and green knee high socks. She wore a black beanie hat, spiked bracelets like Jack and black basketball shoes.

"Alright today's the day I finally get to meet these girls who been kicking your butts for the last couple of weeks!" The girl exclaimed, though Domino didn't seem to be following.

"You're going today? I thought Lilith was going to give Jack another chance?" Domino asked, as he turned his attention to Jack.

Jack shook his head before he said," Apparently I'm still not allowed to go fight because I 'disrespected her immensely'," Jack explained, punctuating his claim with bunny quotes.

"Serves you right! You had a whole two chances to defeat the Pretty Cure and you failed miserably." The girl reminded him, "I'm not going to let that happen though. These girls ain't going to last five minutes with me."

Jack rolled his eyes at the girl's ignorance, while Domino tried to have the girl understand just how strong the Pretty Cure were.

"Bounce, you know very well that me and Jack are strong, we're Lilith's vest so don't you think that if we've been getting continuously defeated by these Pretty Cure you should be at least somewhat apprehensive of these girls?" Domino asked in his special reasoning voice that worked amazingly on Lilith but appeared to have no effect on Bounce," Look I've even been putting extra work in My blueprints, would you like to use them today?"

"What do you think?" Bounce scoffed as she started to walk away from the two of them," I'll be the one to obliterate these Pretty Cure and I won't go easy on them."

As soon as Bounce disappeared from the room, Jack and Domino exchanged expressions.

"I appreciate the effort in trying to discourage her from going." Jack stated as he sat down cross-legged," Because heaven knows if something happens to her..."

"...We wouldn't hear the end of it from Lilith." Domino finished as he shook his head,"Maybe it'd be best to put our faith in her, even if she has no idea what she's up against."

Bounce then reappeared in front of the mall where Kiriko and Asuna were hanging out and looked around the area carefully. Bounce then stretched her arms out, it seemed that nothing here was piquing her interest.

"Today my main goal is to get rid of those Pretty Cures, so in order to that, I've gotta make a real strong Defective..." Bounce said to herself, before she heard a woman nearby crying.

Bounce then turned around in the direction that the crying was coming from and saw a woman on the phone doing her best to hold back on her tears.

"No, I don't know how it happened! She said as she wiped away the drying tears that already fell," My boss said we had to cut down on staff but, I just don't know."

"Perfect." Bounce said to herself as she took out a dark green vial from inside her sleeveless hoodie.

Inside the mall, Kiriko and Asuna were inside a pharmacy in the section where all the makeup was. Kiriko had found out that Asuna really liked makeup, but from Asuna told her, Kiriko could tell she was still a novice in cosmetics as she only listed the brands advertised on tv as her personal favourites also know as the ones that were over-hyped and known to have sub-par performance.

"Hey, I think I've heard of this brand before, do you like this one?" Asuna asked as she held up a tube of lip gloss.

The lip gloss read Kyx Cosmetics and Kiriko nodded her head as she said," This brand has some pretty good stuff. But all their lipsticks are warm-toned, so they don't look good on me."

"What does that mean?" Asuna asked blankly, surprising Kiriko greatly as a result.

"There's a giant purse monster outside!" One of the mall's visitors shouted all of sudden.

Kiriko and Asuna looked to the nearest window and saw the giant purse monster pillaging outside the mall. Inside the mall, nobody dared to leave and so the two Cures ran to the nearest exit as fast as they could.

The two of them had their backs to the building and surveyed the Defective from there. It didn't seem to be causing much harm, it didn't appear as if it could do much anyways because of what it was made from. Asuna didn't pay much attention to this, but Kiriko was already making an analysis.

"That thing is made from a simple object, plus it isn't doing much damage right now, and that isn't really Domino's style. Maybe this was Jack's doing?" Kiriko said to herself, while Asuna looked at her curiously.

 _"What's she going on about?"_ Asuna thought to herself, before Kiriko turned her gaze to Asuna with her PlayPact in hand. Asuna nodded to her.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" The two of them shouted in unison as a flash of pink, orange and white lights appeared from their PlayPacts.

"The Princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.

"The dame of hope, Cure Teddy!" Teddy introduced.

The two Cures immediately rushed to the scene and the Defective stared at them, unsure of what to do. The two of them appeared confused, trying to decide whether or not to take advantage of the moment or determine why the Defective wasn't attacking already.

"Is it broken?" Teddy whispered to Dolly, who was just as clueless as her.

"That's your enemy! Destroy those girls and don't hold back!" The girls heard a voice shout to the Defective. Standing on top of a bus shelter was Bounce, staring at her Defective expectantly.

"My Defective will bring you two down, and it's not gonna leave without a fight!" Bounce exclaimed.

The Defective than started to fight against the two of them relentlessly and not giving the Cures a moment to attack. Both of the Cures were struggling against this Defective, but it seemed Cure Dolly had a harder time to match the speed of the Defective. Dolly had to take a moment to catch her breath and as she did, she watched as Teddy fought the Defective on her own. Despite appearing large and sluggish, the Defective was awfully energetic and easily overpowered Dolly in speed. Currently, it seemed Teddy was doing ok, but from the look on her face, Dolly could tell that her teammate was going to reach her limit soon if she didn't land an attack.

"You're quicker than I expected." Bounce remarked as she watched Teddy fight against the Defective,"But it doesn't matter, 'cause all it'll take is one wrong move and you'll be finished!"

Cure Teddy than somehow landed a kick on the Defective so hard that it blew the Defective back a couple of feet. The Defective looked surprised that someone smaller than it was able to match it in speed, let alone land an attack like that. Bounce seemed just as surprised, her eyes wide with disbelief and her mouth agape for a few moments. She then shook her head and put on an overly-confident expression.

"One wrong move huh?" Teddy repeated, short of breath as she set her gaze on Bounce.

"Ok, so you could land one singular punch on my Defective. Big deal, I'd like to see you actually try to defeat it. Not like it'll happen though." Bounce claimed before she pointed to her Defective," Keep going! You're almost there!"

"If this girl is from Asperity, she's proof that the group doesn't have a distinct fighting style." Dolly examined as she watched the Defective charge for Teddy," But I don't really the time to focus on stuff like that, Teddy needs my help!"

Dolly then ran back into action and jumped up high onto a lamppost, trying to determine her next move. She knew well that she didn't have much time to think, but she didn't want to start fighting without a plan in mind.

"In a situation like this, would it really be best to start attacking at full strength like Cure Teddy? Maybe, she was the one to deliver the first blow to the Defective. But, there just has to be a better solution, there's gotta be a better strategy than that! I just need to think harder, there must be something..." Dolly said to herself quietly as she closed her eyes for a few moments.

 _"Just what can I do that she can't?"_ Dolly thought to herself. Dolly then thought of something and smiled a large smile as she retrieved her PlayPact from the side of her dress.

"That's it!" Dolly said to herself as she shut her eyes again and focused her energy into her PlayPact. Dolly then placed her free hand on the lamp post and felt an unsteady form of magic flow into her. Dolly paid no mind to how different it felt to the other times she used this attack and carelessly went in for the attack.

"This isn't getting anywhere." Teddy said to herself as she continued her fight with the Defective. She felt herself growing tired but she wasn't able to catch a break from the Defective, not even for a split-second. Teddy then caught sight of her teammate standing on top of the lamppost and looked at her in question.

"What's she up to?" Teddy said to herself under her breath.

"What's Blondie trying to do?" Bounce as she narrowed her eyes on Dolly, who now had a suspicious form of magic flowing around her.

Dolly opened up her eyes and positioned her PlayPact in front of the Defective, shouting," Let's play...Pretend!"

What Dolly was expecting to happen was a surge of electricity come out from her PlayPact and strike the Defective, leaving it unable to fight anymore, but instead, she was the one get hit with the attack. Dolly felt as if she had been electrocuted and fell from the lamp post, thankfully on her feet. She didn't have any major damage on her body, just some abrasions on her arms and legs. Dolly stared down at her PlayPact, unable to figure out just what happened as static came out from the PlayPact. Dolly was short of breath and at a loss of words, feeling humiliated by what just happened.

"I don't understand..." Dolly said quietly as Teddy rushed towards her.

"Are you ok?" Teddy asked as she knelt down next to her teammate. Dolly didn't want to look her in the eye and simply nodded.

"I'm fine, it was nothing that I couldn't handle." Dolly reassured, though Teddy didn't seem convinced as she took notice of the scrapes on her arms.

"If you want to let me take it from here, it's fine." Teddy offered in a somewhat hesitant voice. Dolly heard the uncertainty in Teddy's tone and simply shook her head.

"No, not happening." Dolly answered as she got back on her feet," I'm not letting you fight all on your own, from now on, we'll fight like team."

Teddy smiled to Dolly and nodded as the two of them returned to fighting against the Defective.

The two of them went in and fought to the best of their abilities, doing everything they could to wear down the Defective. It almost felt futile to keep on going as it appeared they weren't doing much damage to the Defective, only landing a few punches and kicks here and there. But little did they know, they actually were wearing down the Defective at a gradual rate. Having to constantly dodge and deliver attacks was rather taxing for the Defective, and it was only a matter of time now before the Defective was depleted of all it's energy.

"You two ain't giving up, are you?" Bounce questioned impatiently," It's so pointless to just keep fighting, you two oughta know that if you don't get defeated today, you could next time or the time after that. Your victory is as certain as mine."

"That's what you think!" Dolly shouted as she gave a powerful punch to the Defective. She then jumped up high but then suddenly, the Defective opened itself up and Dolly fell inside. The Defective closed itself up and Teddy stopped fighting, unsure if she would be able to continue without hurting Cure Dolly.

Inside the Defective, Dolly felt constricted in movement and tried to figure out what to do as she tried to break free.

"And now you can't fight 'cause your teammate is trapped inside." Bounce pointed out," So, what were you two going to say? That you won't give up because you believe in the power of magic and friendship and love and you wanna save the world? How are you gonna do that when you can't even save yourselves?"

Teddy balled her fists in frustration as she stood still, knowing there wasn't much she could do.

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!" Dolly shouted from inside the bag. The attack was so strong that the zipper of the Defective broke open and Dolly was freed.

"We aren't going to win through the intangible alone..." Dolly began, just before the Defective fell over backwards in defeat.

"We're gonna get stronger and beat you to a pulp!" Teddy declared brashly.

Dolly was looking quite worn out so Teddy made the decision to purify the Defective.

"Pretty Cure, Hopeful Charm!" Teddy shouted as the area around her and the Defective turned orange and gold. The Defective was purified and restored to it's normal form.

Bounce stared at the Cures and stood there silently. The last thing she had expected was to get defeated today, she felt close to victory and yet, not close enough. Bounce sighed and simply yelled to the girls,

"You two just got lucky! Next time we see each other, I'm for for sure unleashing hell on you!"

The two of them detransformed and nervously Kiriko said what was on her mind.

Kiriko stated, "That was really impressive Asuna. I'm not sure how I would've fared by-"

"-I couldn't done this without you." Asuna interrupted, her gaze meeting Kiriko's," We're teammates right? So, let's do our best to help each other out."

Kiriko was surprised with Asuna's response and replied with," Sounds good to me!"


	7. Tutoring

It was almost the end of the day for school and Asuna's class was oddly quiet today. It was Friday and usually, her classmates were way more lively than this. On a typical afternoon, they would be quietly chatting amongst themselves, making plans for the weekend and after class. Today the class was looking over their math test results in silence. The marks the students received were pretty good, the class average being around seventy-five percent. Of course, despite the fact that most of the student the good marks, there were a few outliers among the class. One of the those outliers being Asuna.

Asuna stared down at her test result, feeling a bit disappointed in herself as she looked at the mark. A forty percent was written on the top-right of the page and just looking at it greatly frustrated Asuna. She apprehensively looked through the pages of the booklet and unwillingly looked at the looked through the questions she got wrong.

As she was looking through her test, her friend Misa walked up to her and asked," I got a seventy-six! So what did you get on the test?"

"I did ok." Asuna answered, hoping her tone didn't make her seem suspicious. She looked over to Misa and Misa was giving her a look of dsisapproval, as if she wasn't even close to being satisfied with Asuna's answer.

"Ok as in...a seventy, sixty?" Misa pried, but Asuna refused to answer, so Misa continued," A fifty?"

"You're getting close~" Asuna replied in a tone that Misa could only hear as bitter.

Misa was getting impatient and tried grabbing Asuna's test page from her, but Asuna was a step ahead of her and moved the test farther from her. Asuna then reluctantly showed Misa the test page, and Misa cringed at her test score before she offered Asuna her most comforting smile.

"It's ok! That was probably one of the hardest tests this semester!" Misa reassured, giving Asuna a pat on the back," What matters is that you tried and hey, you still got some of them right!"

Asuna rolled her eyes and continued to look through her test results before the teacher made an announcement regarding the test.

"For those of you who failed, you're able to retake the test after class on Monday." The teacher said to the class," So for those of you who want a retest, I suggest that you spend the majority of your weekend studying."

Misa looked excited for Asuna, who looked hesitant about taking the test again.

"Now you can do it again, study harder and pass!" Misa exclaimed, not paying attention to Asuna's lack of interest at the thought of doing the test again.

 _"But I studied hard the first time around."_ Asuna thought to herself _," What good will come from more studying if I don't even know how to study this stuff?"_

Asuna and her group started to walk out of the classroom and began to discuss their plans for the weekend. Asuna wasn't really listening, only worrying about how she was supposed to pass the test when it was clear that she didn't know what she was doing. Asuna then thought about seeking help from someone else, like a tutor. The idea made her hopeful, it was evident in her smile, but trying to find a tutor on short notice might not have been the easiest task. Asuna made a list mentally of all the smart people she knew and tried to figure out who would be available and willing to help her.

 _"Hisakawa from Class C is one of the smartest people in our grade, but I haven't even talk to her in four months, so asking for help would feel weird. Misa may have got a good mark, but not good enough to trust her for help. I could ask...maybe not. Wait, Kiriko's smart maybe she's good at math too?"_

"I heard Sonomi from Class A is throwing a party next week, I don't know if I want to go though..." Amari declared while the rest of the group, except Asuna, looked at her in suspicion.

"It's not that you don't want to go, it's just that you want us to go with you." Yutaro restated flatly," Because you know if you go by yourself it'll look like you just came to hang out with Sonomi's brother."

Amari's face turned red with irritation she said," So what if I do? He switched schools last year and we haven't seen each other ever since!"

"Amari, does that mean you're a cougar?" One of the other guys asked, causing Amari's face to turn even more red.

Asuna watched the group make jokes at Amari's expense with very little interest. Asuna suddenly flinched as the boys laughter got louder out of nowhere. She narrowed her eyes at the group and shook her head.

" _God they're way louder than usual today."_ Asuna thought to herself," _And to think some of them got a better mark than me on the test and even passed."_

"So are we going to hang out on Sunday afternoon?" Misa asked to confirm, with the rest of the group nodding in responded. Asuna wore a blank look on her face, she had been too busy thinking about her test mark that she completely tuned out her friends.

"Asuna, you're going too, right?" Misa reaffirmed, turning and walking backwards to face her.

"Only if we can study for a bit, I think I'm going to retake the math test." Asuna declared.

Misa exchanged looks with the other kids in the group and then said," That's why we're hanging out on Sunday! Yutaro, Amari, and Tomoko failed so we're going to help as much as we can so you guys can pass!"

"Really, you guys would be willing to do that?" Asuna questioned in surprise as Misa nodded in response," Thanks guys, it means a lot."

"Of course!" Misa replied cheerfully before their paths were going to split,"We'll see you on Sunday, ok?"

Asuna nodded in response and waved goodbye to her friends. As Asuna walked by herself, Asuna was beginning to reconsider Misa's offer. It was nice of her friends to offer help to her when she really needed it but, she wasn't sure how well a tutoring session with her friends would go. Knowing them, they'd probably get distracted a half hour in and start doing other things, like gossip about the kids in class C or even go out to the restaurant next to Misa's house. The more Asuna thought about it, the apprehensive she became. Maybe she could find someone else to tutor her before Sunday, that way she wouldn't have to worry about her friends slacking off on her.

"I'm not really in a position to only study a little bit of the stuff covered on the test, I need to try a lot harder, so I'll need all the help I can get." Asuna said to herself with a sigh,"I don't have any other choice."

Asuna then took her phone out from her pocket and dialed a number. She held the phone up to her ear and waited for the person on the other line to answer. As soon as they answered, Asuna simply asked over the phone,

"Hey Kiriko, are you any good at math?"

 _"Huh?"_ Was all Kiriko said from the other side.

That night, Kiriko, Rani and Nova went over to Asuna's house and set down an extended list of notes, she claimed that she held onto them from first year just in case she ever needed it again. A pair of pencil cases had been placed on Asuna's working table. One of the pencil cases had most, if not all, off it's contents spilled out from it with highlighters of every colour laying on top of Asuna's notes. Kiriko was standing up, while Asuna was sitting down behind the low table. Kiriko was pacing around, looking through Asuna's test carefully. She had secured it onto a clipboard and was highlighting the material that Asuna had yet to fully understand from the test. Kiriko had been taking awhile, and as time passed, Asuna was starting to feel more and more worried for herself. Asuna took a good look at Kiriko to see if she could tell what she was thinking and had no luck in doing so. Despite knowing the girl a little better now, Kiriko was still as straight-faced as ever and it was still damn near impossible to try and figure out what was going on in Kiriko's mind.

 _"She's probably thinking I'm one of the dumbest people she's ever met."_ Asuna said in her head, though the thought of this didn't seem to bother her that much _," I guess it couldn't be helped though."_

"Ok, I think I've figured which areas you need the most help on." Kiriko stated as she sat down across from Asuna at the table," First, I'm going to compile a list ordered from areas you need the most and least help on for a few minutes. After that, I'll look through your notes and see if they have some to do with your marks. I know sometimes that if you're far from the board, some of the more important information can get lost if it's written in the corners. Oh, and could I possibly take a look through your textbook? Don't worry, I won't write in it."  
Asuna nodded and handed Kiriko the textbook with disdain as if she was handing her a worn out sneaker. Kiriko took the textbook from her and started to read through the chapter that Asuna was on. As Kiriko was reading, she attempted to engage in some small talk with her.

"I'm really happy that you asked me for Asuna," Kiriko stated as she read through the pages," But I can't help but wonder, why didn't you ask Tadashi?"

"Tadashi went on a class field trip to Okinawa and he's not coming back until Tuesday." Asuna explained, with Kiriko nodding as she continued to read through the pages," _Plus if he found out that I failed yet another test, there's no doubt he would tell mom who'd actually sign me up for tutoring lessons."_

"But it's not like it's the end of the world if I get another not so great mark. All I want is a fifty, if I get that, I'll be thrilled." Asuna declared, though her tone wasn't all that convincing," Plus, it's freaking trigonometry, exactly when the hell am I going to need that kinda stuff in life?"

Kiriko then smiled, and not missing a beat, she answered with," Are you kidding me? Trigonometry can be found in more places than you think! If you look hard enough of course. You'd need if you someday got a job in construction, or flight engineering, or physics or marine biology or criminology-"

Asuna rolled her eyes and snickered as she said,"Do I look like I'd actually be doing any of that stuff in the future?"

Kiriko then took a moment to herself, and countered with," Alright, so chances are you won't go into construction or physics or any of that stuff. But, how about wayfinding? To just, figure out the distance from one place to another?"

"That's what Yahoogle's for." Asuna pointed out, her eyes narrowed at Kiriko as she had yet to show Asuna the reason in learning trigonometry.

Kiriko took the deepest breath she possibly could and began to speak," Ok Asuna, picture this. You're on a trip to London with a group of friends, but you stray away from them unintentionally and all of a sudden, you're lost. Your phone's broken in every way possible. You... cracked the screen so bad the phone's performance is now affected, you've got no signal being in out of town and to top it all off, your phone's now dead and you misplaced your charger. You can't get a charger because no one speaks your language and even if you did your phone's too broken for you to Yahoogle anything. So, all you've got is trigonometry. You're friends told you they were going to meet up in the area near to the Big Ben in the case you guys get lost, and what you do is calculate your distance from the Big Ben to figure out the quickest way to get to your friends."

"Does that make any sense?" Kiriko finally asked.

"Not entirely, but I get the gist of it." Asuna answered," I think we've wasted enough time though, can we start with the studying?"

Kiriko nodded and the studying began.

For Kiriko, she thought things were going quite smoothly. She highlighted all the key notes from Asuna's notes and lent Asuna her copy from her first year. Kiriko made worksheets for Asuna to practice from as well as give her definitions for terms that had been on the test that she didn't quite seem to understand. Asuna worked away without dispute from there and diligently did everything Kiriko told her to do.

For Asuna though, she felt as if she bought herself a one-way ticket to torment land. Kiriko was intense when it came to studying and not a single topic was left uncovered by her. She went into great detail to explain every little thing and to make things worse, Asuna still wasn't understanding the material. It looked prettier to say the least, with all the different key notes now highlighted in various colours, but it wasn't helping Asuna very much. If anything, the material felt harder to follow with Kiriko's help. Asuna asked a lot of questions and while Kiriko's explanation were sometimes helpful, the majority still left Asuna confused.

 _"She's too smart for me! She needs to dumb it down!"_ Asuna thought to herself, frustrated as she felt like she wasn't getting anywhere.

Asuna then simply gave up but she chose not to tell Kiriko about how her studying methods weren't helping her. Asuna let Kiriko go home for the night, but before Kiriko left she gave Asuna a fairly small white and gold bag.

"What's this for?" Asuna asked as she took the bag from her.

"So, Nova wants to stay with you from now on." Kiriko explained as Nova rested on her shoulder while Rani was in her bag," We figured that it'd be better if we each had at least one fairy per household, would that be ok with you?"

"It's fine." Asuna answered as Kiriko left Asuna's place as she waved goodbye to her. Asuna waved goodbye back and as soon as Kiriko left, Asuna closed the door and groaned loudly as she slid down against the door.

"Asuna are you ok?" Nova asked, sounding very alarmed as Asuna who appeared to be in great pain.

"No, I still don't know how to do math!" Asuna griped as she banged the back of her head against the door," I only pretended I did during that last hour because I knew studying with Kiriko wasn't getting me anywhere. When she talks about math, it's literally like she's speaking a whole new language that only she and the rest of the nerds at my school can understand. I guess this means I'm just left studying with my friends."

"I'd help you if I could," Nova stated in defeat as she really didn't have much clue on how to help out Asuna," Rani's smart too, I would've suggested asking her for help but during that session, she got overwhelmed with all the problems you had to do. Your definition of math here on earth is a little scary."

"Scary? This stuff is nightmare fuel." Asuna declared, banging her head against the door once more," I've never been good at math, to be honest, I think I'm only getting worse. I can't fail another test this semester otherwise I'll risk failing the class. My marks kept getting lower with each test and now I think my averaging grade is sitting somewhere around a fifty. It'd be nice to get a real good mark on the test, a seventy-five would be a dream come true but, it's not realistic."

Nova looked at Asuna with a pitied look on her face and just sat in her lap and lean against her stomach.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do if I fail this retest, at the rate I'm going I might not be able to bump my grade up enough to pass." Asuna stated with a sigh," But, I'll try my best. I'll do whatever it takes just to pass."

"That's all you can do anyways." Nova reminded her.

Kiriko was walking back to her house now, it had gotten colder and she just couldn't wait to get home. Today had been a good use of her time in helping Asuna, but now she had school work to do. All she could think about though was that last fight they had against Asperity and how her powers malfunctioned. The thought of it had been bothering her ever since it happened, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to hear the answer of _why_ it happened. Kiriko finally decided she was ready to find out and so nervously she said,

"Rani? There's something I've been meaning to ask you. During our last fight, I was trying to use the pretend mode but it didn't work as I wanted it to and I got hurt somehow. Do you know why that may have happened?"

Rani turned away from Kiriko for a few moments, wearing a rather guilty look on her face.

"The Pretend mode is...well, it can be dangerous for novices to use. Since you had mastered it on the first attempt without any prior knowledge of the attack, I think explaining the risks that came with it slipped our minds. I'm really sorry that happened to you Kiriko." Rani explained.

"It's ok, really! I wasn't too badly hurt, I was more confused if anything. I just didn't understand how something like that would've happened, do you think there's some kind of defect on my PlayPact?" Kiriko suggested nervously, but she somehow knew that probably wasn't the case.

"It's not usually the PlayPact that has the defect when something like this happens..." Rani began nervously," You're a great Pretty Cure Kiriko, but perhaps your mind wasn't fully clear when you were trying your attack?"

"But, I cleared my mind and did the usual routine when I was doing my attack, so I'm still not sure how my PlayPact ended up attacking me." Kiriko stated, starting to feel somewhat impatient from not receiving the answers she'd been waiting to hear.

"The Pretend mode comes with the risk of inflicting pain on the user at the slightest negative feeling. If the user is feeling doubtful in their own abilities, or worse, wishes for misfortune on someone they care about, then the Pretend mode won't work as it's supposed to. The Pretend mode won't single out any of the heart's feeling, unconscious or not, and using it without a strong heart can lead to harm for the user." Rani stated, feeling more and more guilty in her actions," I didn't mean to leave this out Kiriko, honest! I really hope you understand."

"It's...it's ok, it's in the past now Rani. That means we can move forward and learn from it." Kiriko reassured as she put a smile on her face," _But, if that's case...what was I feeling that caused my attack to backfire?"_

* * *

On Sunday afternoon, Asuna and the rest of her friends were assembled at Misa's house.

"Alright you guys. We're gonna teach you the ways of math." Reo declared right before he took a large sip from his soda can," So, believe or not, math is easy as hell. It just takes some logic and stuff."

 _"I'm already having my doubts about this study session."_ Asuna thought to herself, her eyes wide as she shook her head.

"Ok so, trigonometry was made a real long time ago by this guy named...?" Reo began, looking towards the rest of the group for help in finishing his statement.

"I think his name was Trigamus Nohm-Etrey." Asuna's friend Sakuya answered confidently.

Everyone in the room looked at him blankly, though Sakuya seemed very certain in his answer so no one made the effort to correct him.

Reo continued with, "Yeah sure, so Mr. N was a guy who believed that the world needs to figure out the distance between things and how to build the pyramids and so what he said was..."

 _"This session is probably going to be worse than my night with Kiriko..."_ Asuna said in her head as she opened her can of cream soda _," We're not even ten minutes in and they're already getting off-track."_

Today, all of Asuna's friends plus herself had met up at Misa's house just as they planned. Misa's house was quite large and the living room was thankfully big enough to hold all of her guests. Asuna had spent all of yesterday desperately trying to study as much as she could through tutorials she found online. The tutorials were helpful in getting her to master the simpler parts of trigonometry, but Asuna was still not confident in her abilities to tackle the harder problems. Asuna knew she wasn't going to get a lot accomplished and she figured that her only option now was to just hope and pray that Tadashi's phone had reception in Okinawa so that he could see her texts for help to him.

"I'm starting to wonder why I even came." Asuna said under her breath as she sat herself sideways on Misa's one-seat swivel chair.

* * *

All was quiet at Asperity, maybe too quiet. Jack and Domino were working away at their own personal projects. Domino was devising yet another plan that would be absolutely fool-proof in use against the Pretty Cure and Jack was styling his hair. The two of them were awfully tense, they usually were more talkative in each other's company but right now, all they could think about was Bounce's absence. She had just been summoned by Lilith about half an hour ago and ever since then, the two of them had been growing uneasy as time passed. Whether or not Bounce was going to be spared by Lilith despite her brash and arrogant mannerisms was not the concern that had been bothering them. It was whether or not Lilith would send Bounce out again.

 _"She probably wouldn't since last time Bounce went she came back empty-handed..."_ Jack thought to himself _," It would probably take a lot of convincing to try and get Lilith to make Bounce leave this place again anyways."_

 _"Lilith is going to be adamant. She wouldn't send Bounce out again after that."_ Domino said in his head _," Bounce is tough, that I will admit, but these Pretty Cure...defeating has proved itself to be a difficult task. Should Bounce come back harmed, Lilith's wrath will know no boundaries."_

"Guess who's fighting the Pretty Cure again~?" Bounce cheered as she bursted out through the doors into the room, startling Jack and Domino.

"My, aren't you a lucky girl?" Domino remarked, doing his best attempt to appear happy for Bounce," I'm sure you'll do a fine job today."

"Try not to get hurt, otherwise Lilith is gonna give us an earful." Jack advised, resulting in Domino giving him a very disapproving look.

Bounce who had been originally walking off to take her leave to the human world simply turned around and said," Come again?"

Domino quickly interjected before Jack could say a thing, though he wouldn't have been able to with Domino standing right in front of him.

"Pay no mind to him, just be on your way!" Domino urged, with Bounce doing as told to. Once Bounce left, Jack elbowed Domino in the back and wore a rather annoyed expression on his face.

"Why the heck did you do that?" Jack asked in irritation," What are you, scared of Bounce or something?"

Domino rolled his eyes and simply shook his head," You don't actually think that do you? I don't want Bounce to think that she's under strict protection, even if she's...you know what I'm getting at. Anyways, Bounce can handle herself, she's become just as strong as us and I simply think we don't give her enough credit."

"Ok fine, don't tell me why spoke for me." Jack responded, clearly not satisfied with Domino's answer," You might be able to fool space-cadet Lili and maybe Bounce sometimes, but nothing can get past me."

"I know that." Domino replied flatly," After all, we're brothers aren't we?"

"Unfortunately." Jack commented, conjuring up a mirror to style his hair again.

Bounce looked around the area she arrived in at the human world. Nobody was in sight, yet she appeared to be in a fairly large neigborhood. The houses were lavish and massive, but as nice as they were to look at, they ultimately had no use to her. Bounce exhaled a deep breath and shook her head.

"I can't even hope to make a Defective unless I find a good target around here." Bounce said to herself," Then again, this city is way bigger than this, so if I can't find someone here, than chances are there will be a better target somewhere else."

"I hate my life!" Bounce suddenly heard a voice cry from nearby. Bounce was startled, but then she became inquisitive. She went to the direction she heard the cry and found Asuna's friend Tomoko sitting on the steps leading to Misa's backdoor, her head buried in her folded arms. She raised her head up a few moments later and started crying.

"I hate math so much, I don't need when I'm gonna become an actress so should I even bother?" Tomoko sobbed as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Bounce then hopped over the fence that blocked her entry from Misa's house and walked over to Tomoko. Tomoko didn't notice Bounce approaching her until the green-haired girl was right in front of her.

"What happened, failed a test?" Bounce asked in mock concern, though Tomoko was convinced that Bounce was actually worried about her.

"Not just one, this is my second test in a row that I failed! I was better at this stuff at the beginning of the semester but now I suck at it!" Tomoko wailed," I don't even want to become a magic magician or whatever the hell it is! I just want to live my life the way I dreamed, by becoming an actress and making myself happy."

Bounce appeared to be slightly surprised as she looked to Tomoko thinking to herself _," This girl didn't even question how I came here and just started to rant about her miserable school life, where's all the screams of terror and begging me to spare her life?"_

Tomoko then asked," Are you some kind of skater? If you are then where's your board?"

Bounce rolled her eyes while reaching for the dark green vial in her pocket and answered with," Not a skater, just here to do my job."

Bounce then opened up the vial and let the contents spill out from inside of it. A dark poisonous cloud then formed and smothered Tomoko. Tomoko found tears forming and streaming from her eyes again. She somehow felt immeasurably worse than when she was crying before and couldn't understand why. After a few moments, Tomoko passed out and the clouds turned into a dark green sphere.

The dark green sphere gravitated to Bounce's palm and Bounce then pointed to a nearby bike and shouted," Do your worst, Defective!"

Elsewhere, Kiriko had been walking to the bus stop from work, with Rani in her bag. Kiriko was drained of all her energy from today's busy day at the cafe and she wanted nothing more than to the curl up under her covers and go to sleep. A loud, prolonged yawn escaped from her mouth and she stretched her arms out just before she heard her phone ringing.

She usually didn't answer her calls, but the caller ID revealed it was Asuna on the other line, so she picked up.

"What's up?" Kiriko asked as she held back on another yawn.

"Kiriko I need help! A Defective showed up at my friend Misa's place!" Asuna yelled into the phone, causing Kiriko to impulsively hold the phone away from her ear.

"Ok, I'll come there as fast as I can, just text me Misa's address and I'll be on my way!" Kiriko responded as she hung up the phone.

Cure Teddy ran to the scene and Bounce grimaced at the sight of her. Bounce then quickly scoped the area for Cure Dolly.

"Where's your partner at? I'm trying to kill two birds in one stone." Bounce stated, as her Defective stared at Teddy, awaiting an order from Bounce.

"I guess it doesn't matter, you are the stronger one anyways. Blondie does nothing but get in your way." Bounce noted, as she snapped her fingers," Defective, put an end to her right now!"

The Defective then charged to Teddy, and so Teddy jumped up as high as she could to determine her next move.

"I called Kiriko awhile ago, where the heck is she?" Teddy said to herself as she landed a somewhat weak kick on the Defective.

Teddy was back on the ground and the Defective recovered from her attack within seconds. The two of them began to fight with each other, and neither opponent seemed intent on giving in. As Teddy fought, she felt herself growing tired quickly, it was a lot like her last fight, but she knew she had no other choice but to power through. During her last battle with Asperity, Teddy had found herself at her limits and while she had been enjoying the fight, she knew it would've been easier if Dolly had fought just as much as she did.

Just then, the Defective grabbed a hold of Cure Teddy's leg and tossed her hard. She collided with a tree and winced at the pain.

"Wow, and to think I thought you were going to be the harder opponent." Bounce commented with a snicker,"Alright, you've had your fun, now to wrap things up-"

"-Hold it right there!" Dolly then cried as she hopped over the fence,"You won't be wreaking havoc here any longer!"

"Oh it's just you." Bounce stated with a sigh of relief," For a second I really thought we were in trouble. Don't scare me like that Goldilocks!"

Dolly glared at Bounce in frustration while Teddy got back on her feet. The Defective wasted no time in attacking the girls and quickly sped towards them again. The bicycle Defective would've ran the two of them over if they hadn't got out of the way in time.

As Dolly was catching her breath, she was thinking about what Bounce just said to her and already felt herself losing confidence. But then, realization hit her.

 _"That's why my attack from last time wasn't working, it was because I was comparing myself to Cure Teddy..."_ Dolly thought to herself as she stared at Teddy right in front of her _," She's really strong, so I guess it only made sense that I started feeling inferior to her despite the fact that I became a Pretty Cure first."_

Teddy then fixated her gaze on Bounce and as if she was reading Dolly's mind, said," We're both threats to you, you know! Quite treating my friend like she isn't worth the effort!"

The Defective then returned to fighting with the two Cures, and both of them jumped in opposite directions away from it. Teddy was ready to land an attack from above, but Dolly was still trying to devise a strategy. Without realizing it, Dolly was about to get caught by the Defective and so, Teddy had to cover for her.

"Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!" Teddy shouted as red and gold flames shot out from her hands. The Defective sharply turned to it's side and the attack hit it's reflector, resulting in the attack getting directed towards Teddy. Teddy hadn't anticipated that to happen, so she didn't have enough time to dodge the attack.

Dolly had remained unharmed since the Defective ignored her due to Teddy attacking. Dolly felt regretful in her actions as she looked at her teammate trying to stand up. Dolly knew she had taking too much time trying to find logic, to study her opponent and figure out what would work best in spite of the time that she had so little time to do so.

"I'm such a bad teammate..." Dolly thought to herself, as she began to panic.

"Some friend she is, huh Teddy bear?" Bounce jeered as she watched Teddy fight to stand up again," It's almost admirable to see you try and defend your teammate but even Blondie here knows she's no good."

"She's not a bad teammate!" Teddy shouted back to Bounce in frustration," She just fights differently, can't see all the gears in her head moving?"

Dolly then flushed red at that statement as Teddy said," She might not like fighting the way we do, but that doesn't mean she's useless! Cure Dolly works hard and I'm not gonna let you talk about her like that anymore!"

"Teddy doesn't think badly of me, despite the fact like I feel like I drag her down...no, she's right though. We're equals, she has weaknesses just like me but luckily for us, we're opposites so we help each other get stronger." Dolly said to herself quietly.

Dolly then looked to her teammates and shouted to her," I'm going to try my very best to fight without thinking so that I can be of aid to you, rather than a hindrance!"

"Sounds good to me!" Teddy responded.

The two Cures then went head to head with the Defective and fought as hard as they could. The Defective put up a good fight, but it wasn't able to compete with the Cures as well as before. This time, Dolly tried to fight instinctively, rather than thinking about each and every move she made and it seemed to have been working well for her. She might not have originally enjoyed fighting like this, but being able to fight in a way that would help Teddy made Dolly feel like her efforts weren't in vain.

One final attack was all it took to defeat the Defective. The Cures delivered the final blow together and the Defective was fell down, unable to move anymore.

The Cures exchanged expression and then Dolly said," You can purify it, you don't get to use your magical powers as much in battle so I think this would be good practice for you."

Teddy nodded and Dolly took note of the fact that Teddy seemed a bit unsure of herself at first as she quickly averted her gaze from Dolly.

"You'll be ok! You've done it before, you got this!" Dolly reassured her teammate, _"Is this why she doesn't use her magic all that often, because she lacks confidence in her magical powers?"_

Teddy nodded and then took a deep breath as she shut her eyes, saying," Pretty Cure, Charm of Hope!"

The area around them turned orange and gold in mid-sentence and the Defective was cleansed, reverting back into a regular bicycle.

"Cure Teddy, remember, we're not only teammates we're friends ok?" Dolly reminded her," So, I want us to bring out the best in each other. I like working with you, and I think we can learn from other, do you agree with me?"

"Of course." Teddy replied with a kind, genuine smile on her face.

Asuna was sitting at one of the tables at lunch period all by herself on Monday, trying desperately to soak up as much information as possible. Asuna hadn't ever this stressed out and was beginning to lose hope fast. Kiriko's help, despite appreciated, didn't do much for Asuna. Neither did her friends attempts. Her brother never responded to her messages and since it was too late to get his help, she just unsent the messages from Sunday. Asuna was truly at wit's end, hoping that if she studied in full solitude she might stand a chance at getting a fifty.

"I know Kiriko said that we had to help each other out, but it's way too late to ask her at this point." Asuna said to herself as she desolately stared as all of her worksheets spread out on the table," I feel like death right now."

"Working hard or hardly working?" A familiar voice asked. Standing on the opposite end of the table was Hayase.

Asuna was unsure of what to say and sputtered out,"I'm gonna fail my math test and I can't do anything about it. So, I guess a bit of both, to answer your question."

"Maybe I could be of help?" Hayase said as he took a seat at Asuna's table. Asuna seemed skeptic of the idea at first, but she gave him a chance.

Asuna was expecting Hayase to have given her explanations as detailed and incomprehensible as Kiriko, but instead Hayase did a great job in simplifying terms and even creating problems that Asuna would've been able to follow, such as how far a video-game character would need to jump in order to avoid fall off the screen. Trigonometry was finally starting to make sense to Asuna and she believed she would've never lived to see the day that would happen. While she wasn't sure that she ace the test with an A+, she was confident she'd at least pass this time. She was more than thankful that Hayase helped her out, to the point where she was thinking about just how she would repay him.

When lunch period had finished, Asuna reassembled her work back into her folder and Hayase helped her.

"I guess I'll get going, I will see you around. Alright, Morino?" Hayase said as he handed her the worksheets.

Asuna gingerly took them and Hayase left in a hurry. Asuna watched him head to the school building and looked somewhat displeased as she put her folders into her bag.

"Should I be surprised he's pulling out the formalities on me?" Asuna asked aloud to no one in particular," He's deliberately making me feel like we're strangers, I guessed it can't be helped though. We might as well be strangers."


	8. Sisterly love

Kiriko was organizing papers with Hayase after their student council meeting. Today's meeting had gone better than the two of them expected with very little disagreements between them and the rest of the council and time was spent wisely through useful discussions for once. They had been ahead of schedule, and knowing the younger kids present, Kiriko and Hayase made the decision to adjourn the meeting early so that they could head home earlier. The younger members of the council were happy since they wouldn't have to worry about traffic on the way home now. The only people left in the room were herself and Hayase collecting the reports and insuring that the room was clean before they took their leave. Tadashi would've stayed back with the two of them to help clean up, but they let him leave to unpack his stuff from his trip to Okinawa.

"So Kiriko, do you have any plans today?" Hayase asked casually," Maybe we could take a detour and go study at that cafe from last time."

"Plans?" Kiriko repeated, trying to picture her schedule and see if she was available,"Ah, I won't be able to today, my cram school session from yesterday had been moved to tonight since my teacher had an appointment to attend, maybe some other time?"

"Sure, what about this weekend?" Hayase offered, sounding somewhat eager but Kiriko failed to notice.

"Hm, this weekend...no I can't. My sister wants to hang out this 's coming back home from college." Kiriko explained as the two of them walked out of the classroom.

"I thought she always came back home on the weekends." Hayase said as Kiriko awkwardly averted her gaze from him.

"Well..." Kiriko began," Lately, school hasn't been kind to her so she's been getting a lot of assignments. She claims that she'll get too relaxed if she comes home so she's just been staying at her dorm on the weekends."

"A lot of assignments? Wasn't she studying to be an actress?" Hayase questioned curiously.

"She still gets assigned a lot of work, I don't know how she does it." Kiriko responded as they continued to walk," Plus, I think she's taken a liking to Tokyo. She loves the city's energy, and she had been going to auditions nonstop during this last month."

"Did she land any roles?" Hayase asked as the two of them walked out of the school building.

"A few callbacks here and there, some really small roles, nothing too life-changing. No big break yet." Kiriko answered as she checked the time on her phone," Oh gosh, it's that late already? I got a train to catch so I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

Hayase nodded and waved goodbye to Kiriko as she left.

On the other side of the school building, Asuna and her friends could be found crowding around a pair of tables, chatting amongst themselves. There weren't many people left at the school now, only some janitors, and a few students were being held back by their clubs. Seeing Asuna's friends staying back so late might've been surprising to see to some of the other students from the school

The girls of the group were sitting around one table and the boys were sitting at the other table, some sitting regularly and others sitting on top of the table.

"Ok so I still can't believe this girl, skinny as a toothpick and dressed in a bunch of frilly clothes comes in outta nowhere and starts wailing on this thing." Reo said to the rest of the group, though they too had been there to witness the girl in action, "She was going hard, man. Wouldn't stop fighting for a _second_. It was crazy she was like, like..."

"...Don't be mean to my friend or I'm gonna punish you!" Reo reenacted, in a high-pitched voice as he stood on top of the table.

Asuna rolled her eyes as the rest of her friends laughed at Reo.

"But, I think I heard about her though. Kids from our school were talking about how they saw a girl in frilly clothes fight against a big monster like that near that cafe a few weeks back." Misa noted as excitement crept up into her voice," Do you think we'll see them again? Oh that's right! Asuna, did you get a chance to see those girls in action? We made you stay downstairs to barricade the doors, so I guess not...?"

All eyes went straight to Asuna who was drinking from a juice box. Asuna remained silent for a few moments, just to leave her friends in suspense.

"That girl was an ok fighter. She was real determined though. She just kept going at it." Asuna stated, hoping her friends wouldn't be able to tell that she was lying.

They didn't have the slightest clue, with Reo exclaiming," That's what I said! Like she just kept punching and kicking like her life depended on it. It was insane. It sucks we didn't get a picture of her or something."

Asuna watched as her friends continued to talk about her alter-ego and felt awfully uncomfortable listening to them. It was nice to finally have something worth getting excited for in her otherwise dull life, but to have her friends know and talk about it right in front of her? Asuna was unsure of what to do. She didn't want to look suspicious if she tried changing the topic plus despite the embarrassment that came with her friends seeing her like that it almost felt good to have been commended by her friends.

Asuna then pulled out the test sheet she got today from her teacher. A seventy-eight percent was written in red ink. When Asuna had saw it today, she couldn't believe her eyes, it was like Christmas morning seeing that grade. Part of her still didn't believe that she scored so high, but she wasn't complaining. Now she really felt like she had to do something in return for Hayase. Another thank you was definitely in order, just the thought of it made Asuna smile but then she thought of what would happen afterwards. Hayase probably would've been brief with her, said 'You're welcome' and return to his busy life.

The thought of the "Morino" incident still stung and Asuna, who wasn't usually one to overthink actions, couldn't get those words out of her mind. Asuna shook her head and put her test sheet back into her bag. After looking at her test page, Asuna reminded herself that she also needed to tell Kiriko about the grade she received, since Kiriko had been interested in knowing what her new score was. Asuna was still debating on whether or not she should tell Kiriko about the help she received from Hayase. She had been worrying about how Kiriko would respond to hearing that her tutoring wasn't easy to follow.

Kiriko was sitting inside a large classroom lit by very bright lights and without an empty seat in the classroom. Students were writing down notes meticulously, not unlike Kiriko and the teacher was explaining an equation he had on the board.

As the teacher went through his lecture, Kiriko took a short break from writing her notes and started to look around her classroom. Most of the students weren't from her school, it was blatantly obvious by the uniforms they wore. The only students that Kiriko was able to recognize was the pair of girls who sat in the row in front of her. During their in-class break the two girls talked a lot and went to Kiriko's neighboring school. Aya and Wakame, she recalled their names to be. The rest of the students did not talk very much, many of them were much too focused on their studies to socialize with the rest of the students.

Cram school, though useful, was a lonely place at times. No one really made an effort to talk to Kiriko or paid much attention to her and while she was ok with that at first, the isolation in cram school was slowly getting to her. Kiriko had been going to this cram school for about a year now, ever since the start of second year. She knew most, if not all the kids by name but very little about them. A lot of them didn't seem interest in making friends here, but they didn't appear indifferent or aloof, just really dedicated to their studies. Kiriko understood where they were coming from, she had been just like them a few months ago but these last couple of weeks really made her realize how little control she felt she had on her life.

Kiriko was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard Aya and Wakame burst into laughter.

"So, the girl literally threw his Superiority sweater inches away from a puddle when she was giving him back all his stuff and he looked so mad, and he just said 'So that's how it's gonna be huh?' " Wakame told Aya, who was continuing to laugh.

Kiriko laughed quietly, in hopes the two of them wouldn't notice her listening in on them. Though they seemed like nice girls, Kiriko was unwilling to initiate contact with them. She didn't think much of her lack of interest in talking to them, despite how lonesome cram school would feel. Kiriko always just considered it a place of study, to hone and sharpen your academic skills, nothing more nothing less. But lately, Kiriko had started to think differently about a lot of things with cram school being no exception.

When her cram school session ended, Kiriko went on the train going back home. The train was quiet and the commute always felt quicker during the night. Kiriko was relishing in this brief time of pure quiet when suddenly her phone rang. Kiriko reached for her phone in her bag with hesitance and checked the caller ID. After finding out who was on the other side of the call, Kiriko instantly picked up the phone.

"Kozue, are you already home?" Kiriko asked with excitement evident in her voice.

"Yeah, I just got in. I was able to get a ride with one of my classmates so I just wanted to let you know I'm at home and I can't wait to see you! We can catch up when you get here, I've got some other phone calls to make ok?" Kozue, Kiriko's older sister, replied," I'll see you soon!"

The commute home was nice and quick, leaving Kiriko a decent amount of time to catch up with her sister tonight. When Kiriko got home, her parents and Kozue were waiting expectantly for her at the dinner table.

Kozue quickly stood up from the table and went to give Kiriko a hug. The hug was tighter than expected and Kiriko was starting to feel squished.

"Kozue, it's only been a couple of weeks..." Kiriko reminded her awkwardly before they broke the hug.

"I know, but I used to see you every single day! And now look at you, you look all grown up now! Like you're ready to face the real world!" Kozue exclaimed with pride.

Kiriko shook her head and said in a deadpan voice," Kozue it's literally been less than a month, please stop."

Kozue looked a lot like Kiriko with her dark blue hair, though hers was a bit longer and wore in a ponytail, and lilac eyes. Kozue only stood a few inches taller than Kiriko, they could've passed for twins. Kozue dressed a lot more loudly though and was definitely more out-going than Kiriko.

The Tenoh family had dinner together for the first time in awhile and Kozue couldn't stop talking about her adventures in college. While talking about her semester had gone so far, Kozue got into great detail from how long it took her to finish her first assignment to the insanely annoying teammates she had for her latest group projects. Kiriko wasn't bored by all the little details that Kozue gave her, in fact she found it quite informative and took mental note of Kozue's worse experiences so she would at least feel prepared when her time to head to post-secondary came. After dinner had been finished, Kiriko and Kozue sat in the living room, something the both of hadn't done in awhile, and Kozue discussed her plans for her time at home.

"So, on my study week, I was meaning to work on my portfolio and get my headshots redone because my last ones looked a bit iffy, but I also want to see some friends from high-school and maybe even our cousins if they're free this weekend." Kozue listed off, hoping that she wasn't forgetting anything.

Kiriko nodded in response, somewhat unsure of what to say," Yeah that sounds a solid plan. Have you made any of those actual arrangements and called people up?"

"Sure did. Meiko, Haru and Itsuka already said yes, I still need to hear back from a few others though." Kozue answered as she turned on her phone," I was thinking we either go to dinner or maybe I throw a party, we'll figure out later in the week. So anyways, how have you been? How's school and work and all your other extra-curriculars?"

"Oh you know, it's all been the same. Nothing too extravagant, just a test here, an understaffed day at work there," Kiriko answered nonchalantly with an awkward shrug," I really haven't been up to much lately."

"Really? Are you sure you aren't holding out on anything from me?" Kozue interrogated, but Kiriko simply just shook her head in response.

"Well, you know me. I've been going through routine since like second-year, I don't have time to do other things." Kiriko explained as she put a forced smile on her face.

Kozue still didn't seem satisfied though,"But still, I'm certain something about you has changed! I can't put my finger on it but I don't know Kiri, something just feels different about you."

Kiriko was starting to grow tense, hoping that her sister wasn't speculating weird things about her. Kozue then leaned in very close towards Kiriko and inspected her face.

"Oh! You're wearing mascara!" Kozue exclaimed as she drew back from Kiriko," See? Nothing can get by me!"

Kiriko still appeared to be tense and smiled politely.

Kiriko soon left Kozue to make her other phone calls to catch up with her friends (she had no trouble hearing Kozue upstairs from her bedroom) and quietly started reading on her bed. Soon enough, Kiriko found herself struggling to concentrate on her book and simply closed it as she listened in on her sister's conversations.

Kozue was loud, maybe a bit too loud on the phone as she talked with her friends, but she sure seemed to be enjoying herself. Kiriko listened in well, and somehow, listening in on her sister reminded of her middle-school days.

Kiriko would come home at around four-thirty, drop her bag next to her bedroom door and spend her free time surfing the web, looking at pictures of her favourite dolls and learning about the ways of maintaining a toy collection. Kiriko would be fully enjoying herself in solitude but then out of nowhere, she'd hear her sister talking on the phone. And so it would begin. Kozue, in her second-year of high-school was chatting away with one of her friends from her circle and gossip for at least an hour. Kozue had always been the type to make friends with ease and become close with people quite quickly.

The two sisters, despite looking similar, never really saw eye-to-eye on things. Kiriko knew very well that Kozue was capable of going into sciences or even business if she really wanted, she just chose acting over all that stuff. Kiriko had at first questioned her sister's choice because she just couldn't see the logic in it. Kozue was smart just like her, so why did she need to take a risk as great as going into acting?

Kiriko originally saw her sister as reckless for going into the study when she was able to succeed in a more technical course but Kiriko never wanted to confront her sister about it. Maybe Kiriko didn't understand where her sister was coming from back then but as time went on, Kiriko was beginning to see the reason in her sister's actions.

Rani laid down next to Kiriko and asked her,"How come you had been so nervous about your sister's visit? She seems like a very nice girl."

"It's just...well, I envy her. I want to be able to make decisions for myself the way she did." Kiriko confessed as she pushed her book away," See, my mom's a heart surgeon and my dad's a pediatrician. They wanted Kozue to go into the same field as them. They were ok with me wanting to do Law school though. Kozue was smart and studious just like me, she was able to score the highest grades in class, note I said able to because she never actually did, but she made the choice to carve out her own path. She was a lot like me when she was in high-school. She didn't work but she had clubs and cram school. Only, she was able to make the most of her high-school despite her extracurriculars. When she said she wanted to go into acting, our parents begged her to rethink her decision, to be a doctor or a scientist, something that they approved of. But, she didn't want to do any of that. When asked why, she said she found something that she felt was calling to her as loudly as possible, something that was unrelenting and determined to capture her attention. She said acting brought out a whole different side of her and it gave her life purpose. When she said that, I didn't quite follow. I think that was because I was so used to living a predetermined life that stepping out from that sounded crazy. But now...I feel like she did the right thing, following her desires like that."

Rani nodded in understanding, and Kiriko simply fell silent.

 _"In a way, I live my life without uncertainty. I do what my parents want me to do, I'm able to meet their expectations of me and I don't venture into the unknown but...now, I feel like I'm not doing this correctly. I don't understand."_ Kiriko thought to herself.

Outside, Kozue was sitting on the front porch, still on call with one of her friends, only this time she wasn't as loud as before. Her conversation sounded more serious this time and she was wearing a giant grin on her face while on call.

"I don't if I want to stay at my place for the entirety of the weekend, I'm still getting that same vibe from my parents." Kozue said into the phone,"They were like this when I left for college almost two years ago. They were mad at me and hated the fact that I decided to go into acting. I really thought that they'd let it go by now."

"Did you guys get into a fight?" Kozue's friend on the other side of the call asked.

Kozue shook her head saying," Not yet. But things feel tense, everyone in the room, except Kiriko, can feel it. I wanted to come back because I missed being at home but, I still feel I'm not there, you know? This house hasn't felt a home in such a long time, I don't know if I can even stay the entire week here."

"Well, you can always come over and crash at my place if it's bothering you that much." Her friend offered.

Kozue was quiet for a few moments and responded with," I'm not sure if I should. If I leave, then I won't get to see my sister much during the week. I guess I'll just either have to avoid my parents or make amends with them, I dunno how exactly I'll do that. I gotta go, so I'll see you later in the week?"

"See you then." Her friend said before the call ended.

Kozue sat by herself deep in her evening had grown cold but she didn't have any desire to go back inside just yet. Kozue walked up to the fence around the front porch and leaned against it, thinking about this evening went.

"My parents weren't interested in talking because of how unpleased they were with me, Kiriko was too busy in her own little world to notice anything, it's like I never left." Kozue thought to herself," Why does it have to be like this? Why am I still being treated like this after all this time?"

Kozue hung her head, and said to herself quietly," Kiriko's very lucky and she doesn't even realize it."

Kozue thought about her sister and instead of feeling jealous, she only felt pity for her. Kiriko, despite living a hectic life where she always had something that needed to be done, lived a life free of judgment from her parents. She hadn't done anything wrong yet. Kozue was starting to worry that if Kiriko, their parent's last hope would decide to switch paths, she would be treated as coldly, maybe even worse, as Kozue.

Kozue then shook her head and looked up to the sky. She knew she couldn't let that happen, Kiriko wouldn't deserve that at all. Kozue then decided that she had to fix things with her parents and changed their minds about their daughters' choice so that in the case that Kiriko went astray from the path they made for her, she would've been spared.

Kozue then marched inside and straight into Kiriko's room asking," Do you want to have lunch together on Saturday with mom and dad?"

Kiriko was still surprised to have Kozue burst into her room, but recovered moments later and said," Sure I guess. But mom and dad had to meet with someone from work, so they'd have to meet us at the cafe."

"Fine by me!" Kozue said as she left Kiriko's room to go to tell her parents.

On Saturday morning, Kiriko was getting ready in her bedroom while her sister waited for her in the living room. Kiriko pulled on a grey sleeveless top over her head and yawned loudly. She had stayed up quite later than usual since the cafe she worked called her in asking if she could work the afternoon. Despite the fact that had already told them she was unavailable for Friday nights, she decided to go anyways. Kiriko felt her eyelids growing heavy and simply shook her head in an attempt to wake herself up.

"To be honest, I'm really surprised Kozue wanted to go lunch with our parents too." Kiriko said to Rani, with another yawn escaping her mouth," She usually spends so much time with her friends that mom and dad usually get left out."

Kozue had been waiting outside, leaning against the house as she looked down at her watch. So far, they were good on time but bussing to the cafe where they planned to have met their parents could've led to them arriving later than intended. All of a sudden, Kozue started to feel anxious as she waited for Kiriko. She then smiled to herself and shook her head as she reached for her phone in her bag.

"What am I doing? I'm acting just like Kiriko." Kozue said to herself as she grabbed her phone.

After she took her phone out, she found Jack standing on the fence of the front porch, just inches away from her. He startled Kozue greatly and was the cause of her stepping back as far as she could. For a second, Kozue thought she was hallucinating, but Jack wouldn't disappear.

She put on an awkward smile and simply said,"Who are you? And why are you at my front door?"

"The details don't really matter." Jack claimed as he sat down, legs crossed, on the fence," All you need to know is that today I'm going to be testing out a new method of harvest and you shall be my first test subject."

Kozue tried to open the front door blindly, but didn't make it in time as Jack threw what appeared to be a black diamond up into the air that released a blinding light from it.

"Go forth and corrupt her weak Patchwork Heart!" Jack shouted out to the diamond. The diamond did as told and went straight for Kozue. The diamond seeped into her skin and penetrated her Patchwork Heart, feeding off of her feelings of doubt and bitterness.

Jack then snapped his fingers and pointed to a mail flyer peeking out from Kiriko's mailbox.

"Do your worst, Defective!" Jack shouted as the diamond left Kozue's body and fused with the flyer.

The defective roared loudly, loud enough for Kiriko to hear from her bedroom window. Kiriko jumped at the sound and looked down below, finding Jack with his new Defective. Kiriko then immediately ducked down as she noticed she caught Jack's attention.

Kiriko then reached for her phone while muttering to herself," Of all times to pull something like this, they choose to do it today?"

After sending Asuna a text to come to her place, Kiriko then took out her PlayPact from her bag, shouting,

"Pretty Cure, it's playtime!"

A swarm of purple of pink lights appeared and moments later, Cure Dolly was found in Kiriko's place.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly announced.

Jack was surveying his surroundings, insuring that there wasn't a single Pretty Cure in sight. He didn't put much care and attention into this as he simply took a look around the area briefly. After looking around, Jack decided it was time for him and his Defective to leave.

"We're off! We gotta find more people to make you stronger." Jack declared, just before Dolly swung open the front door to her house.

"Not so fast! There's no way I'm letting you leave without a fight!" Dolly stated, while Jack and the Defective eyed her with confused looks on their faces.

"If you were in that house the whole time, what took you so long? Jack asked as he narrowed his eyes at Dolly.

Rani watched from the window of Kiriko's room, her face pressed against the glass as she said," Dolly could've easily leapt out through the window but no, she had to walk down the stairs or else she'd risk breaking her neck or some other form of bodily damage."

Dolly appeared to be agitated with Jack's question and simply said," It doesn't matter!"

Jack rolled his eye and looked over to his Defective and said," Go get rid of her, I don't wanna be around these parts for too long."

Dolly opened her mouth, seemingly appalled at Jack's comment," What's that supposed to mean? I'll have you know I live one of the nicest neighborhoods in town!"

The Defective then dashed towards Dolly and so, Dolly jumped up to the roof of her house.

Dolly stared down at the Defective below, waiting impatiently for her to jump back down. Dolly had a feeling that if she continued to stay up here on the roof, the Defective would've come for her and started climbing her house, which was the last thing she wanted. Dolly let out an annoyed sigh, wishing that the location of this battle didn't have to be at her own house.

Unwillingly, Dolly leapt down from the house and engaged in battle with the Defective. She did everything she could, hoping that her efforts would be enough to rival the Defective in strength as she knew she couldn't simply wait on her partner.

"Hey I heard you got a new teammate, where is she?" Jack called out as he watched Dolly deliver a punch directly in the Defective's center.

"Why are you all so interested in her?" Dolly asked in an irritated tone as she continued to fight with the Defective.

The Defective was just as fast as she was and didn't appear to be affected by all of her attacks. It was abundant in power and Dolly soon found herself at wit's end as the Defective only seemed to be getting quicker. Though in reality, Dolly was getting drained of her stamina. Something about this Defective seemed different, but Dolly couldn't figure out why. She did a backwards flip to get some distance between her and the Defective so she could at least determine what was making this Defective in particular so strong.

 _"I know I shouldn't try to be thinking about the cause of this Defective's increased strength but, if I find out, I'll probably have an easier time trying to fight against this thing!"_ Dolly thought in her head.

Dolly briefly looked behind for a second and saw her sister unconscious on the front porch. Seeing her like that made Dolly quite alarmed, but what really got to her was the dark red and black aura trailing out from her.

"What's going on?" Dolly asked anxiously before the Defective reached for her and grabbed her off of the ground.  
"Ah, like what you see?" Jack asked in an unsettlingly excited voice," We found out a better method of using you humans' magic. Instead of just reaping out the energy that's used for your flow of magic, we figured we'd go straight to the source and take as we need from there. Pretty smart, huh?"

Dolly looked at him in pure revulsion as she writhed around in the grasp of the Defective,"How could you do something like that?! You're using my sister and reaping out her magic for your own selfish gain! I don't care if I still barely understand this whole magic thing, it doesn't take a genius to know that you shouldn't be even doing that in the first place!"

Jack placed his fingers in his ears, wincing at the sound of Dolly's yelling as he said," I'm guessing you're still the noisiest Pretty Cure."

"Pretty Cure, Flame of hope!" They heard a voice cry out.

A mass of orange and gold flames had been shot to the Defective's wrist and impulsively, the Defective drew it's hand back and let go of Dolly in the process. Dolly landed on her feet and saw Cure Teddy standing a few feet away from her.

"Look like I came just in time." Teddy remarked as Dolly smiled to her.

The two of them started to fight together against the Defective. Teddy threw more punches while Dolly did kicks. The two of them had improved from last time, becoming a lot more in sync with each other. But even though their teamwork improved, it wasn't enough against the Defective. The Defective still wasn't losing out on any of it's stamina it just continued to relentless spar with the girls, who were growing impatient with the Defective.

The Defective soon was at an advantage with the Cures losing stamina and was able to feign attacks to catch the two of them. Dolly and Teddy were trapped in the Defective's hands, being squished in it's grasp while Jack laughed at the sight of them.

"You girls never stood a chance against my Defective! He's super-strong and smarter than the two of you combined! It was only a matter of time before we won today!" Jack remarked in triumph as he took a seat in a tree in the yard.

"And he claims I'm noisy,"Dolly commented flatly as she rolled her eyes.

Teddy meanwhile was clutching her PlayPact in her hand and tried her best to focus and clear her mind completely. She hadn't even come close to preforming her attack and she already found herself struggling. Teddy reminded herself not to get frustrated, that if she was going to feel frustrated, she would only have a harder time getting this attack to work.

She shut her eyes and thought about how she and Nova were discussing the Pretend Mode yesterday.

 _Asuna was in her bedroom, dressed in her gym clothes as she was stretching. Today was the day that she decided she was going to master the Pretend Mode._

 _"You said you want me to show you something Asuna?" Nova asked as Asuna continued to stretch._

 _Asuna nodded and responded with," That attack that Kiriko tried doing that ended in her frying herself. It's a pretty effective move, right? So I gotta learn it if I wanna improve and stuff."_

 _"Oh, the Pretend Mode." Nova said, sounding a bit nervous as she dropped her gaze from Asuna," I don't know if you're ready for it."_

 _"If I can use the Pretend Mode, I'll get better with my magic right?" Asuna asked as she knelt down to look Nova in the eye._

 _Nova nodded and reluctantly, she explained the Pretend Mode to her._

 _"It might be scary, but it's gotta be done!"_ Teddy thought to herself _," Nova said the element my power comes from is fire, so that means I can use that element at will, even if there isn't any fire around for me to imitate. I'm about to burn this thing to a crisp."_

Teddy kept her eyes shut and suddenly, the world and her surroundings fell quiet. It was so quiet that Teddy felt as if she had transported herself into some kinda void absent of people. She knew now was the best time to preform her attack and while she felt ready, a part of her still felt nervous.

Her PlayPact started to get hot, really hot, and the magic circulating within her was carrying that heat through her body. She was starting to feel like she inside a sauna and did her best not to draw attention to herself.

Soon enough though, the Defective noticed that Teddy had gotten warmer and glanced at her curiously.

Teddy stared right back at it, with a determined look on her face as she shouted,"Let's play...pretend!"

A mass of flames burst out from Teddy's PlayPact and were more than enough to burn the Defective's hand. The Defective drew back it's hand out of instinct and let go of Teddy who jumped backwards upon being released.

"Nice going!" Dolly cheered, pinching the Defective so hard it let go of her too.

Teddy gave her a thumbs-up and noticed that her arms were burning a very bright red. Teddy looked at herself curiously and tried to figure out exactly how that happened.

Dolly braced against the tree Jack was sitting at and closed her eyes. Moments later, she opened them and held out her PlayPact in front of herself.

"Let's play...pretend!" Dolly shouted out, as a collection of roots spouted out from the ground to bind the Defective. The Defective was entrapped by the roots and thrashed about, but it's efforts didn't do much against the roots.

"Teddy, want to try and do a combination attack?" Dolly offered, overlooking the fact that Teddy was staring at her arms obsessively. Teddy nodded quickly and came to her side.

The two Cures stood with their back against each other, holding their arms out as they shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Flame of Wishes!"

Their attack, which consisted of a gold flames and a violet whirlwind hit the Defective straight on. This time, it actually seemed like their attacks were having an effect on the Defective.

"Impressive, so our fighting alone was definitely not enough but once this Defective was hit that attack, it's as if it...started to take all the damage we did to it before..." Dolly observed with a look of question on her face while Teddy was holding her fists out, in the case that the Defective wanted to fight again.

"Either that or we're just really damn strong when we put our strengths together." Teddy concluded, her gaze fixated on the Defective," So shall I do the honor or-?"

"-I'd rather do this one." Dolly declared, before an idea came to her," Actually no, let's trying purifying it together.:

Teddy looked at her curiously for a few moments, initially unsure of the idea but then nodded after seeing the determined look on Dolly's face.

"Pretty Cure, Charming Enchant!" The two of them shouted together the atmosphere turned purple and gold in mid-sentence. The Defective was purified and returned to it's original form.

Jack appeared to be extremely unimpressed, wearing an incredulous look on his face as he griped," First it lets go of one of the Cures because it was feeling a bit heated then it let's go of the other one just from getting _pinched?!_ Worst Defective I've ever made, without a single doubt. That's the last time I make a Defective out of paper."

And with that Jack vanished.

"Someone's bitter." Teddy snickered as she and Dolly de-transformed," Do you need me to stay or anything?"

Kiriko shook her head and said," I had plans anyway and we're were gonna head out just before Jack appeared. I think I can handle things here."

Asuna nodded and waved Kiriko goodbye as she left.

Kiriko rushed over to her sister's side and waited for her to wake up. Kozue was still unconscious for a few minutes, longer than most people who had been used to make Defectives but eventually, she stirred and came to. Kiriko had a very relieved look on her face when she saw Kozue awake again, though Kozue appeared to have been unsure of just what was going on as she took in her surroundings.

"Oh no, we were supposed to meet mom and dad at the cafe!" Kozue clamored as a look of distress was carved onto her face. She checked the time on her phone to see how much time had passed. Kozue groaned loudly and ran her hands through her hair frantically.

"We won't make it in time." Kozue declared in defeat," I had one shot and I blew it."

Kiriko looked at her sister, puzzled as Kozue continued to stress about the fact that they wouldn't make it time. It wasn't like they made reservations or anything. Plus, Kozue would habitually show up late to family events when she was in high-school.

"Well, if it means that much to you then, maybe we could just have lunch at our place? I can make something for lunch and you know, mom and dad would have an easier time coming back home than to the cafe." Kiriko suggested casually," Chances are, they probably just finished their meeting."

Kozue nodded and called up their mom.

 _"I'd only have the one chance. If I mess things up here, it won't just be me who'll be taking damage."_ Kozue thought to herself," _It's too great of a risk to do it now, I have to prepare for it and really have them see my point of view. If I try to do it today, I might not stand a chance. If I want to get my parents to listen to me, I need to work hard on this and put as much effort into this as I can. I still have some time before Kiriko graduates, so I've gotta work hard on this. Not just for my sake, but for Kiriko too."_


	9. Shutterbugs

Asuna was sitting by the tables next to the school building, her usual hangout spot after school, with her friends Reo, Yutaro and Sakuya. The school had fallen quiet, as the group had stayed back longer than they had intended. They had lost track of time, unaware of how late it had became only until they noticed the decrease in numbers of students passing by them. Asuna had only stayed back with them today because her parents were going to pick her and Tadashi up from school to go out for dinner. As the afternoon grew warmer, Asuna removed her jacket and tuned back in to her friends' conversation.

"So, I'm just standing there right, you know acting natural and stuff and then all of a sudden she approaches me and tries to get to know me." Reo told the group. Asuna rolled her eyes, but the rest of the group seemed to be enticed with what Reo had to say. Asuna hadn't really been paying attention until now and was stuck listening to the boys talk about their 'fateful encounters' with really pretty girls, that would consist of them saying "Hi" and "Can I get your number?" in the same sentence.

"So did you hear back from her?" Sakuya asked inquisitively," It has been four days."

"Nah, she's been way too busy with school for texting." Reo answered, receiving looks of understanding from the boys while Asuna simply rolled her eyes.

"I hate to break to you but she just ghosted you and left you for good." Asuna declared with a dramatically grave look on her face.

The boys didn't seem convinced though and Reo then said," Nah, she's one of those goody two-shoes. She's an older girl and she's trying make her grades look good for university."

Asuna still wasn't convinced and was insistent at this point that the girl wasn't planning on responding to his texts," Buddy, in this day and age, we're all always right next to our phones, I don't think any of us can last a day without texting somebody. I'm telling you, she isn't interested and honestly, that doesn't surprise me."

Yutaro and Sakuya laughed at Asuna and took her side, while Reo glared at her with an annoyed expression engraved onto his face.

"It's ok man, you don't need her." Yutaro reassured as he picked up the magazine sitting next to him, flipping to a page in the center of the book," There's still Sophie."

"Sophie?" Asuna repeated, sounding rather confused before Reo took the magazine to stare at the girl.

Asuna was feeling as if she was out of the loop as the boys stared at the magazine, their gaze fixated on this Sophie person as if they were in a trance. Asuna offered them a look of question and Yutaro held out the spread they were looking at in front of her.

"She's a model from Tokyo who moved into town a few months back. She's mad famous and goes to school on the other side of town, I think she's in second-year." Yutaro debriefed as Asuna stared at the picture of the girl. Sophie was a slender model with skin like milk chocolate and captivating bright big eyes. In the photo, Sophie was modeling clothes for some chain clothing company that was a bit on the low-end of fashion, so Asuna had questions about exactly how famous this girl was.

"If she's so famous then why isn't she modeling for some designer brand?" Asuna asked curiously as she continue to study the spread, now holding in her own hands.

"So here's the thing about Sophie. She hasn't had her big break yet where she can start modeling for those brands, but she's getting there." Reo explained briskly," She has a big following, it's just...the major agencies haven't picked up on this yet and Sophie's not one to blatantly point it out."

"That's a shame, since she can take some pretty photos. She's like, photogenetic." Asuna remarked as she closely viewed Sophie's expression on the spread.

"It's _photogenic_ , Einstein." Reo scoffed as he took the magazine from her,"One of these days I'm gonna hop on a bus going to the other side of town, introduce myself to her and ask her out on a date."

"That's lame." Asuna commented in a deadpan voice as she shook her head," What you need is an actual strategy. You can't just waltz into her life and expect her to fall for you! Heaven knows she probably gets guys like you bothering her all the time."

"An actual plan does sound like a good idea though, maybe then you'd stand a chance in winning _the_ Sophie Aina's heart." Sakuya pointed out with a snicker.

"Exactly. If you put more thought and effort in this endeavor, then chances are you'd be more successful." Asuna declared confidently.

All the guys exchanged expressions to see if they were all thinking the same thing.

"Ok, so I think I got something. Hear me out," Reo began, sounding very certain of himself," Step One; become an acquaintance to Sophie by...getting introduced through our mutual friend, Asuna."

Asuna looked at the three of them skeptically as she said in disbelief," Are you guys serious?!"

Kiriko had been sitting in front of her classroom, on the floor for about ten minutes now, worlds away from the school grounds and in deep thought. Lately, she felt as if she needed to adjust her lifestyle, and not just because she became a Pretty Cure, though the incident might've instigated this desire. Kiriko been going through a mess of emotions lately, it really wasn't like her to act like this but Kiriko just couldn't explain it. She saw it as the result of these last few month's events. From becoming a Pretty Cure, to befriending Asuna and then Kozue's visit from last week. Kiriko had all these thoughts swirling around in her head that, something needed to change in order for her to feel at peace again. But, what kind of change did she need?

"Even though I live two separate lives, one of which involves me to risk getting thrown around like a rag doll, my life stills feels like it's being lived incorrectly." Kiriko said to herself as she looked out the window in front of her," I've always seen life as some kind of blueprint, a full-blown chart of tasks that have to be completed at certain times. Obviously, things don't always go as planned, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't really go off-chart. Because I'm afraid of life without a set plan, I think I've ultimately made myself suffer more. In order to set things right, I need to find an activity that I don't have a pragmatic reason for doing. Like a hobby, I guess."

Kiriko sighed loudly and shook her head, feeling doubtful in her own abilities.

It never failed to amaze Kiriko how things as simple as trying out new things, or trying to find a new hobby was something that excited other people, but made her uneasy. All she could think about right now was looking for a new hobby, hoping that it would be of interest to her somehow and hoping that other people would like it too so she could be like everyone else in a way and discover that sense of belonging everyone else got to experience.

"This shouldn't have to be so frustrating." Kiriko lamented, as she looked down the hall. She knew well that an average student would've been somewhat surprised to find their vice-president, sitting on the floor after school had ended awhile ago. She had already received a few suspicious looks anyways.

Kiriko then stood up and stretched before she left to go home. The sun had been setting now and Kiriko seemed to be alone in her walk home. But, just as she was leaving the school, she heard a pair of voices a couple feet away from her.

"Great, so if you need any help on setting up or anything like that, don't hesitate to text me ok?" A voice that Kiriko had sworn she heard before but couldn't match anyone with said.

Kiriko turned around and saw a girl from her grade she had recognized. The girl had brown hair that fell a little past her shoulders, fair skin and blue eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses. Her cheery, upbeat voice caught Kiriko's attention and while Kiriko never really talked to her, she always thought the girl was quite nice.

The girl then noticed Kiriko and casually walked up to her.

"It's nice that the weather's staring to warm up around here." The girl remarked, though Kiriko only gave her a blank expression for a few moments.

"Um, yeah. Can't wait for summer vacation to come." Kiriko said in an awkward manner," Busy day at your club?"

"Without a doubt." The girl answered with a shrug," I'll tell you though, it was amazing. We finally did a photo shoot with the fashion club and the dresses these girls made were beautiful. You would not believe some of the talent hidden away at our school."

Kiriko nodded, keeping quiet as she felt a bit guilty all of a sudden. She seldom paid much attention to other clubs and such, but it appeared that this girl had yet to notice.

"One of these days, you should drop in and see them in action, you won't be disappointed." The girl suggested," So, how's student council going? Everything going as scheduled?"

 _"How did she know I was a part of student council? Oh, that's right...everybody knows that."_ Kiriko thought to herself sheepishly before answering with," Yeah definitely, things have been going great."

The girl smiled and the two of them fell quiet. Kiriko however, wasn't panicking to herself or overthinking things as she usually did. Kiriko felt a welcoming presence from this girl and for once didn't feel as if she wasn't coming off as intimidating or indifferent to someone.

Then Kiriko suddenly asked," Would it be possible if I could drop in and see your group in action this week? I'm interested in your work."

The girl lit up as she heard Kiriko's question and answered with," Definitely! We're actually planning to do a photo shoot on Wednesday, are you free that day?"

Kiriko nodded and the girl then said before their paths split," Awesome! I'll see you then. It was nice talking to you, Kiriko!"

"Yeah, same to you. By the way..." Kiriko began in a nervous voice,"What's your name?"

The girl giggled and said," I'm Mari. Meet me by the gym doors after school on Wednesday, ok?"

Mari crossed the street, presumably heading to the train station nearby as Kiriko walked home.

When Kiriko got home, she found that she was home alone, so she went upstairs and crashed onto her bed. Rani had been reading one of Kiriko's books, and then came to Kiriko's side as soon as the girl fell onto her bed.

"Kiriko, is something the matter?" Rani asked as she inched towards Kiriko.

"Lately, I've feeling like...like I can't do this anymore." Kiriko declared with a giant sigh. Kiriko then noticed that her statement made Rani appear quite distressed, so Kiriko felt the need to elaborate.

"I'm not talking about Pretty Cure! I'm ok with that stuff now, I just...it's my regular lifestyle. It's not what I want to do anymore." Kiriko confessed as she uneasily sat upright and hugged one of her pillows," I want to change things, I want to enjoy myself. Not just worry about if a disagreements going to come at a student council meeting or if work's going to be understaffed. I need to...I want to do things that'll make me happy."

"Oh, I understand Kiriko. But, I thought your Friday nights with your stuffed toys and picture books made you happy?" Rani asked curiously.

"It does but, I do that in secret." Kiriko said briskly," I want to do things with friends, and maybe find an activity I like that brings me closer with other people. I don't mind the being on student council, or work, or even cram school but...all of them put together are getting in the way. I do all these things pragmatically, you know what that means right?"

Rani shook her head, feeling a bit embarrassed for not knowing but Kiriko simply smiled to her.

"It means I do things with a set reason, I don't them just because I can." Kiriko explained calmly, as she placed her hand on the nape of her neck," I think becoming a Pretty Cure made me realize quite a few things. One of those things being that, I sometimes overthink things, and cause more harm than good. Another thing being that...I'm too busy to have fun. I don't want things to be like that anymore. I think a lot about how much more I'd enjoy myself if I got a second chance to go through my first year of high-school again. I think I'd make the effort to make friends, I wouldn't be as shy and I'd do as many fun things as I could think of. Like Asuna, I guess."

"So what will you do now?" Rani questioned bluntly, as Kiriko averted her gaze," Are you going to look for a hobby?"

"Well, I made plans to visit the photography club next week. It's definitely not something I had in mind but, it's worth a shot, right?" Kiriko stated with a shrug.

Asuna and Tadashi were sitting in the back of a car with her mom and her mom's boyfriend driving. Tadashi was texting his friend and had his headphones in during the drive, while Asuna was just looking out the windows with an absent look in her eye. The inside of the car was a little warmer than Asuna would've liked it, but she kept her sweater on and made sure that her arms were covered. After what had happened earlier, she knew she would've been better off if her arms were left unseen to everyone.

 _"Seriously Reo, how am I even to approach her anyways?" Asuna asked reluctantly as she held arm out, with her sleeve falling down on her. On her arms was a tensor bandage wrapped tight and all the boys looked at it in shock._

 _"Girl, what the hell did you do to your arm?" Reo asked as he brought himself closer to Asuna's arm to inspect the bandage._

 _"Uh, cooking accident, I just burned my arm. No big deal." Asuna answered curtly as she pulled up her sleeve._

 _"You burned both your arms?" Yutaro asked, pointing out the bandage peeking out the sleeve for her other arm._

 _Asuna just groaned in irritation as a response._

Asuna's arms had been burned pretty badly, but it wasn't from a cooking mishap. Ever since her last battle with Asperity, Asuna had been hoping that the burn she had received on her arms would just disappear, like magic. But no, the burn persisted and while it may have been getting better, Asuna still couldn't help but wonder why it happened.

 _"It doesn't make sense, if I have powers, then just why the hell can't I use them as freely as Kiriko? I probably shouldn't try to use that move again, but it's strong so, I can't just give it up. I'll figure it out, it's just magic anyways."_ Asuna thought to herself before she looked ahead to see where they were driving to," _God I don't wanna go to some fancy restaurant, I just want a slice a pizza and call it a day."_

The car stopped in a restaurant's parking lot and Asuna looked around to see where they had been taken to. She was familiar with the area, and she appeared to be skeptic of the restaurant as she narrowed her eyes at it and everyone who walked inside.

A lot of the people who entered were rather dressed-up, so Tadashi immediately felt under-dressed as they all walked inside. Asuna couldn't care less about how everyone looked at her though.

"Should've brought my school blazer today, at least then I wouldn't stick out as much." Tadashi said with a sigh as the group was led to their table," Are you even listening?"

"You think they sell pizza here?" Asuna asked louder than intended as she looked around the restaurant, causing Tadashi to shush her.

"All you ever want to eat is pizza." Tadashi chided as they took their seats.

Asuna then tuned her brother out and started to think about the incident with Asperity again as she looked through the menu.

 _"I know Kiriko's magic is stronger than mine but the question is, just how much stronger is it?"_ Asuna thought to herself _," With fighting, it's easy to better my skills but, with magic it's confusing. Maybe there's more to magic than I think..."_

Asuna then felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and retrieved it to see who texted her. She received a message from Kiriko that said,

 _"Hey would you be interested in coming with me to check out the photography club on Wednesday?"_

Asuna narrowed her eyes at the text and said in her head," _Ugh, just what is she trying to do? Enroll me in a stupid club?"_

But before Asuna declined her offer, she decided that she wanted to hear Kiriko's reason for this invite to the photography club visit.

 _"Why?"_ She texted on her phone.

 _"I want to join, but I'm too shy to go by myself."_ Kiriko explained in her text.

Asuna stared at the text for a few moments, as things didn't quite add up in her mind as she read the text. Kiriko was already busy enough already so joining a club now would've just been too much for her. Plus, Kiriko never seemed like the type to have an interest in photography. It felt as if Kiriko was holding back on some information. But, Kiriko didn't usually text Asuna unless it was something important, or at least, something _she considered_ important, so Asuna agreed to go with her and texted her,

 _"Ok, I'll come with you."_

On Wednesday after class, Kiriko and Asuna were being led to the photography club classroom by Mari.

"And here we are!" Mari said as the three of them stopped in front of a classroom door," This is the photography club!"

Mari then opened the door and revealed a group of students inside the classroom, setting up shots with their cameras and inspecting the room to find an interesting spot to photograph. Once they saw Mari in the doorway, everyone smiled and greeted her.

"Hey Mari! Will we be taking some shots outside today?" One of the girls asked as she held a seemingly heavy camera in her hands.

"Yeah, the weather's nice today so I don't see why not." Mari answered casually as the girl was getting ready to leave the classroom," Sakimi, just stay a few minutes, I have an announcement I have to make to the club."

Sakimi nodded and took a seat as Mari looked around the room to make sure all of her club members were here. Nobody was absent, so Mari was able to make her announcement.

"Attention!" She yelled, her voice sounding awfully shrill as she did so.

Everyone's eyes turned to Mari in an instant and so Mari said," Today we will be having two honorary guests today! This is Kiriko and Asuna! They don't belong to any clubs, so make sure to make them feel extra welcomed today!"

The group members nodded in agreement and Mari then rushed to the other side of the room to retrieve a camera for the girls.

"Wow, these cameras look really high-tech. They much have about a dozen features on them!" Kiriko remarked in astonishment as she eyed the camera in Sakimi's hands," Asuna, don't you wanna look at it?"

"I've seen them before, so it's nothing new to me." Asuna admitted sheepishly," My mom's boyfriend used to be a photojournalist, so he let use his camera before."

"Oh I see." Kiriko commented quickly, hoping she hadn't touched on a sore topic as she continued to look at the camera.

"Ok, I've got you guys a camera you can share!" Mari declared as she placed a camera identical to the one Sakimi had onto the table," Kanon Revolution D6, An incredibly versatile model, at a fairly reasonable price. Of course, you can always get a better deal on them around September if you're interested in making the investment."

"Wow, even the name of it sounds cool~" Kiriko marveled as she caught her reflection in the camera's lens while Asuna simply rolled her eyes.

Cautiously, Kiriko lifted the camera from the table and studied it carefully. She had only ever seen cameras like this in flyers, and the closest she had been to a high-tech camera was simply having her picture taken by one of them during family photos. The camera was surprisingly heavy and there was a large set of buttons, each labeled with an icon that Kiriko have difficulty in understanding. Thankfully though, she was able to turn it on by herself.

Mari assisted her in getting the camera into live mode, while Asuna's mind wandered off.

 _"Maybe if I trained harder, I wouldn't have got those burns on my arms..."_ Asuna thought to herself as she took a seat _,"...I've been debating on whether or not I should tell Kiriko. I don't want her to freak out and ban me from using magic, so maybe it'd be best to just work on this without having her know about it..."_

Just then, Asuna caught sight of a magazine with a familiar model on it laying in front of a group of the club members on the other end of the table. Asuna's interest was piqued and slowly, she glanced over to get a better view of the magazine. Just as she suspected, Sophie had been on the front page of what appeared to be a painfully large catalogue for a department store.

In this magazine, that appeared to be a few years old, Sophie was wearing a really cute pair of navy blue overall shorts, decorated with gold buttons, and a white long sleeve button up shirt. One of the members noticed Asuna staring at the catalogue and saw it as a chance to start a conversation with her.

"It's a cute outfit, right? This catalog was from about five years ago, when Sophie Aina was only eleven." The girl explained," Sometimes we look at photos in catalogs and magazines to get an idea of how a picture would be set up in comparison to today. A catalog like wouldn't have that many noticeable differences, but it's always nice to look through this catalog in particular, just because it's literally filled with pictures."

Asuna then simply brought the catalog closer to her and started flipping through the pages, in hopes she would see another photo set of Sophie.

"Are you a fan of Sophie?" One of the club members inquired as they all took notice of Asuna looking through the pages intently.

"Well my friends really like her, I wouldn't mind knowing more about her though." Asuna admitted as she scanned through the catalog. Something about Sophie's pictures were, unusual to Asuna but she couldn't quite determine why. The pictures of her carried this familiar feeling to them, but Asuna wasn't really sure why.

Kiriko and Mari had gone outside so Mari could provide Kiriko with a demonstration on how to use the camera with subjects she found more interesting.

"I know it'd probably be easier for you to test out taking pictures inside with some sets we made but, there's a lot of great stuff out here that I think you'd have more fun taking pictures of." Mari said in her defense as she led Kiriko out to the school's garden.

Kiriko took in her surroundings with an astounded look on her face. She hadn't been to the school's garden in quite a long time, so just looking at all the colourful flowers around left her breathless.

"Flowers have such bright, vibrant colours and I personally always like to take photos of them." Mari admitted as she knelt down in front of a flowerbed, with Kiriko following suite," Let's take a few shots of these ones."

"Jack, you sure have some nerve showing your face here again." Domino remarked as he was outlining the sketches for his new blueprint," You know if I were you, I would've consider going incognito for a bit, you how failures upset Lili."

Jack shook his head before he impatiently said," I don't need to go into hiding. Like it or not, Lil thinks I'm just as important to Asperity as you are, so I don't have to worry about facing 'Lilith's wrath'. "

"Wow, you say that with the utmost confidence, it's very admirable." Domino jested as he firmly put a hand on Jack's shoulder.

Jack was quick to shoo away Domino as he stated," Why wouldn't I? I'm not afraid of her."

" Then how come you haven't made any form of contact with her since you came back from last time?" Domino questioned with a smirk," You can't risk seeing Lilith, knowing that she'd be livid to find Jack, an Asperity Commander, fail yet again! What you need to redeem yourself is to use a plan. You must devise a strategy so cunning and well thought out that the Pretty Cure won't know what-"

"-Shut up for a second, I hear someone coming." Jack said as he leaned up against the wall and cupped his ear to it. He could hear voices that he recognized though what exactly they were saying was unclear.

Just then, Bounce and Lilith had burst out of the door, with Bounce shouting awfully loudly," I'm heading today, it's my destiny."

"It most certainly is not. Domino! You're going instead." Lilith demanded as she glared at the two of them," Bounce, I'd much prefer you just avoid seeing the Pretty Cure for awhile, until we've brought an end to them."

"Nah." Bounce said as she simply shook her head," I'm just as strong as Jack and Domino. I shouldn't need to be told what I can and can't do if they aren't getting the same treatment. All I know is that I wanna make a big as hell Defective and make some enemies."

Bounce then waved good bye and disappeared, with Lilith wearing a rather frustrated expression on her face.

Lilith then shut her eyes in a weak attempt to calm down and simply said," Domino, follow after her."

Domino then nodded vigorously and vanished in an instant.

Bounce then reappeared near Kiriko and Mari, who were too busy taking pictures of flowers to even notice her. Bounce grinned at the sight of them and then revealed a black diamond inside her palm. She looked down at it expectantly and let it fly towards her target.

"Go forth and corrupt her Patchwork heart!" Bounce yelled as the diamond went straight for Mari.

Kiriko shielded her eyes from the bright light that came from the diamond and seeped into Mari's skin, into her Patchwork heart. From inside her Patchwork heart, the diamond unleashed a form of magic that was dark, toxic, and highly unsuited for Mari's Patchwork heart. The diamond then exited Mari's body and Bounce made it fuse with a watering can nearby, turning it into a Defective into the process.

"Defective!" The monstrous water can bellowed.

Asuna had ran to the scene and came to Kiriko's side as they both took out their PlayPacts and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.

"The dame of hope, Cure Teddy!" Teddy introduced.

The two were standing a few feet away from the Defective, with Teddy looking absolutely ready to start fighting while Dolly seemed a bit distraught.

"What it is?" Teddy asked after taking notice of Dolly's expression.

"I feel like something's missing, like we should say a little intro phrase together, you know?" Dolly suggested, before she set her gaze on the Defective," We can worry about that later though, let's go!"

Dolly and Teddy ran up to the Defective together and began to fight against it. As they had fought against the Defective, it suddenly spun around and sprayed, actually more like soaked, them with water. The Cures were both drenched, and wore very different expressions on their faces.

Dolly was evidently aggravated as she wrung the bottom of her dress while saying to herself," Why couldn't it just fight normally like the rest of them?"

Teddy however, was appearing to be thoughtful for once and was carefully thinking about whether she should use her powers today.

 _"Because I control fire, my attacks won't have much effect on this thing. If anything, I'll probably be the one getting hurt if I use my powers like that again..."_ Teddy thought to herself as she sighed in frustration," Guess we're going to do this the old-fashioned way!"

Teddy dove into battle without a second thought and left Dolly behind unwillingly, under the belief that she followed after. Teddy jumped up very high and the Defective tried spraying her with water again, with little success this time as Teddy wasn't in range of it's attack. Teddy did a somersault in midair and drove a kick down into the Defective. The Defective staggered backwards and Teddy landed on the ground, feeling as if her fighting alone wouldn't be enough. She was unwilling to do another attack with magic again, knowing her element was going to be ineffective against the Defective and because she was worried about hurting herself again.

Teddy glared at the Defective as she thought to herself _," Damn, now probably would've been a really good time to use the Pretend Mode, but lord knows how badly I'll mess it up this time."_

"Teddy! Are you ok?" Dolly shouted as she ran to her side," The Defective is going to be quite a pain to deal with if we can't get around it consistently soaking us with water. We should think of a way to either dry up the water inside of it, or somehow clog the holes in Defective's spout."

"Yeah, you think of something, meanwhile I'll go back to attacking-!" Teddy declared as she was about to run off, but Dolly stopped her. Teddy was a bit surprised as she saw an adamant look in Dolly's eyes.

"We really have to work together this time." Dolly stated solemnly," I know you want to just beat this thing up but, I don't want to risk you getting yourself hurt."

Teddy looked a bit uneasy and thought to herself _," Did she know about what happened the last fight?"_

Teddy drew in a deep breath and finally said," Ok, what did you have in mind?"

Bounce continued to watch the fight, feeling unsatisfied as all she saw was the two Cures speaking with each other while the Defective stood around. Bounce rolled her eyes and shouted to the Defective,

"I didn't make you just so you could stand around, go fight them!"

The Defective did as told and charged towards the Cures. Teddy sighed loudly and turned around to fight against it while Dolly just jumped up into the air.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" Teddy shouted as she delivered a very strong punch towards the Defective.

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!" Dolly shouted from midair. Her attack aided Cure Teddy in fighting against the Defective and was strong enough to blast it a few feet away. The Defective collided with a tree and Dolly tried to decide how to fight against it.

 _"I guess fighting it traditionally would be ok, but there should be a more effective way. Something that isn't just wearing it down until it can't move."_ Dolly thought to herself _," I could use the Pretend Mode on it to use it's power against it, but somehow I feel like it won't have much of an effect."_

Dolly's eyes opened widely, as she realized something," _It hasn't been spraying us with water for awhile now, why is that? Maybe there's not a lot of water inside it to begin with, so it's holding onto it until it really needs it. The Defective knows spraying us with water is it's best method of action but it's sources are limited. How can that be of use to us though?"_

Just as Dolly was thinking about her next plan, the Defective was about to grab her but Teddy prevented it from doing so as she jumped up and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!"

The Defective appeared to be quite frightened of Teddy's attack and evaded it as best as it could.

Dolly took notice of this and continued to think to herself before she said," I think that might work."

The Defective was keeping it's distance from Teddy, who was currently inspecting her arms to see if her burn marks had gotten worse. She exhaled a sigh of relief. The burns were still the same but that didn't mean Teddy felt certain that'd she be ok to use the Pretend Mode.

"I feel so stuck right now," Teddy groaned to herself," I really wanna just fight this thing but-"

"Teddy!" Dolly yelled to her partner," Give him hell!"

Teddy was in disbelief of what she heard, but then gave Dolly a giant grin and did as told. Dolly joined the fray briefly and the two fought together. Soon after, Dolly jumped up as high as she could into one of the tallest trees in the vicinity. Teddy turned and looked at her partner unsurely.

"Come join me!" Dolly shouted to her teammate, who only offered her a look of question, forcing Dolly to shout," Trust me on this!"

Teddy did as instructed to and followed up the tree.

Bounce seemed rather annoyed and said," Those two think they can just camp up there because they think my Defective won't follow them, well joke's on them! Defective! Go and climb the tree!"

Both Teddy and the Defective looked at Bounce incredulously, unsure if they heard her correctly. The Defective simply did as told and climbed up the tree. Teddy seemed worry while Dolly just stared at it intently.

"What are we supposed to do when it reaches us?" Teddy asked nervously.

"Jump." Dolly answered without a trace of doubt in her voice.

Teddy seemed even less sure of her and so, Dolly whispered her plan into Teddy's ear.

The Defective reached the two of them and so, they both jumped. The Defective stared at them for a few moments before Bounce demanded it to jump too.

"Hey look, all the water's spilling out of it!" Teddy shouted as the two Cures were falling.

"Teddy, here's your chance!" Dolly shouted. Teddy nodded as she landed on her knees, moments before the Defective came tumbling down.

"Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!" Teddy yelled as she positioned her hands in front of the Defective. The Defective was hit head on with the attack and couldn't move another inch.

"Dolly, how about we finish it off together?" Teddy suggested as her teammate ran to the scene.

Dolly nodded and took a deep breath as she started to concentrate on her flow of magic while Teddy looked down at her hands anxiously before following suit.

"Pretty Cure, Charming Enchant!" The two of them shouted in unison, purifying the Defective in the process and reverting it to it's original form.

"Hey, what the hell? I thought that Defective was supposed to be stronger than the others!" Bounce hollered as she crossed her arms,"Whatever, it's like mom says. It's not about failing, it's about how you learn from it that counts."

Bounce then disappeared and the two Cures looked over at the spot Bounce was at before she left.

"That's some...oddly good advice." Teddy noted, without noticing that her partner had rushed to Mari's side.

Kiriko was sitting next to Mari, and was awfully quiet for a few minutes while Asuna sat next to her awkwardly. The silence had been going on long enough and just before Asuna was going to break it, Kiriko spoke up.

"Emptying out the Defective of it's water was the best thing I could think of. Mainly because I knew you'd be able to use your powers against it if the water was all gone." Kiriko began, her words rushing out as she fixated her gaze on the ground," All of a sudden, I feel guilty. Mari got caught up in this, and she was so nice to me and well..."

"Kiriko, it isn't your fault, it could've happened to literally anyone." Asuna reassured as she gingerly put a hand on Kiriko's shoulder," But I've been wanting to know, why do you wanna join the photography club all of a sudden?"

Kiriko hugged her legs and eventually answered with," I wanted to try something new. Something that would make me feel happy in the company of others. Work can be stressful, Cram school is kinda lonely and student council well...to be honest as much as I like doing it, it's not fun Asuna. I want to be everyone else and actually do something I like doing, not just because I have a set reason to do it, you know?"

Before Asuna could answer, Kiriko then said," Well, maybe you don't. It's kinda hard to put it into words really, my life feels just feels stagnant once you strip away the Pretty Cure stuff and once that's over, I worry I'll be stuck living the life I once lived...and I'm not sure I want that."

Asuna nodded and the silence reformed as Asuna shifted her gaze to the ground as she wrapped her arms around one of her legs.

 _"I kinda feel bad now for seeing Kiriko as just someone who was a powerhouse for magic."_ Asuna thought to herself," Well, you were having fun today right? So, maybe this is the first step to change. I mean, it's even pretty brave of you to decide that you wanted to change things."

Kiriko shrugged as she replied with," I guess. I think without the whole Pretty Cure stuff, I wouldn't have even realized my life had been so...repetitive. This experience has brought a lot of good things. So, maybe I should be more grateful to it."

"That's the spirit!" Asuna cheered with a smile as Kiriko smiled back to her.


	10. Model behaviour

After the club session had ended, Kiriko decided to stay back for a bit and help Mari clean up. Asuna was more interested in leaving, feeling as if she had overstayed her visit, but Kiriko made stay back with the two of them.

Kiriko was wiping off notes the club members wrote on the board, while Asuna helped Mari arrange the seats back into place. While Asuna was putting the seats back, Mari noticed the bandages wrapped around her arm and wasted no time in getting a closer look at them.

"Oh my goodness, Asuna what happened to your arm?" Mari asked in genuine concern, but all she received was a harsh shush from Asuna.

Asuna then quickly checked to see if Kiriko had heard them, and after seeing that Kiriko was too busy cleaning the boards, she quietly said,"It's just a burn."

"But, it looks serious." Mari pointed out as she kept her gaze on Asuna's arms," How long did the doctor tell you to keep those bandages on for?"

"Doctor?" Asuna repeated with a blank look on her face," I didn't need a doctor to tell me to wrap my arms up after burning them."

Mari's mouth was agape and she put she hands over them before she said," You didn't even go to a doctor to get it checked out?"

Asuna shushed Mari once more and then impatiently said," No, I didn't think I should go just to a burn looked at."

 _"Not to mention, I didn't want the doctors to ask what really happened once they figured out it wasn't really a burn..."_ Asuna thought to herself as Mari began to further inspect Asuna's arm without her consent. Mari shook her head and wore a very solemn look on her face as her blue eyes met Asuna's.

"We should go to the nurse and have her check this out." Mari suggested, causing Asuna to draw back her arm in an instant as she shook her head.

"I said I was fine, seriously you don't have to worry about it." Asuna reassured, becoming more frustrated with each passing second as Mari seemed to grow more intent.

Mari wasn't going to give up though and reasoned with," She'll probably have something to clear up your burn, I can sure she'd be happy to help."

Asuna seemed less sure about declining Mari's offer, and in that very second, Mari called out to Kiriko and said," Me and Asuna are going to fix something really briefly. When you're done, you can just go home ok Kiriko?"

Kiriko nodded, though she was curious of what the two of them were going to do as Mari led, more like dragged, Asuna out of the room.

Asuna was soon inside the school's infirmary and took in her surroundings with an anxious look on her face. She had never actually been here and the thought that the nurse was going to find out with ease that she hadn't burned herself the way everyone else did was making her tense. This was already feeling like a bad idea and she hadn't even seen the nurse yet. Asuna was alone in the room as Mari went to go find the nurse. The infirmary was painfully bright, and the sterile smell the area was giving off only made Asuna grow more tense. She sighed as she sat back in her chair and thought about today.

"I really should tell Kiriko about this. I mean, yeah she's gonna freak out but she knows she can't fight alone so maybe she could help me in trying to master this whole magic thing." Asuna said to herself quietly just before the nurse and Mari came in.

"Now, Mari here says you burned your arms?" The nurse asked, with Asuna offering a rather forced smile in response.

"So, do you think that even makes any sense?" Kiriko asked Rani as she crossed her legs on her bed. Kiriko was at home now and was discussing something important with Rani as she held a picture of Sophie Aina up in front of Rani.

"I mean, you are kind of in her presence when you see a photo of her." Rani answered after a few moments while surveying the photo carefully," But, I don't think I can feel anything from it. If I am, it's kind of hard to tell whether or not I'm feeling a source of magic from the photo or from you."

Kiriko furrowed her brows and held the photo closer to Rani," Come on, our magic can't feel that similar."

"Well, if she is a Pretty Cure, then her magic will almost feel identical to yours." Rani reminded Kiriko impatiently," Pretty Cure magic feels, very different from everyone's else. From only a photo, I don't know if you'd be accurately getting a feel for this girl's magic. Plus, it might not even be her magic you're sensing. It could've easily been someone else on the catalog, or even somebody in the room. You could've easily made the assumption that the magic belonged to this girl because well, you just happened to see the picture when you sensed it."

"Ok, fine. But all things aside, does this mean there's a third Pretty Cure?" Kiriko questioned in a pleading voice.

"It would appear so." Rani answered briskly, keeping her gaze on the photo," In all honesty, neither me or Nova know how many Pretty Cure there are. We only know that our candidates are from your world."

Kiriko nodded in understanding and then said," I never even considered another teammate, but if there really are other Cures, then I'd be more than happy to have them on the team."

She then stood up and turned her back on Rani as she began to think aloud," But, now I'm starting to hope she isn't the Sophie girl. She appears to be somewhat famous with all these photos that turned up from one search. Getting through to her would be extremely hard, and heaven knows if we'd even make it past her bodyguards, let alone speak to her...this task could prove itself to be much harder than imagined."

Rani giggled sheepishly as she watched Kiriko devise a plan.

"You think a model neither of us have ever even met is a Pretty Cure?" Asuna asked, her tone filled with disbelief. A day had now passed since the girls visited the Photography club and Kiriko had decided to discuss her plan with Asuna. She was expecting Asuna to be more excited, shocked even at the thought that there had been another Pretty Cure, another person who's magic was on par with theirs. But no of course, Asuna just had to be as doubtful and negative as always.

Kiriko began to defend herself saying," Well, its not like I knew you when I suspected you to be my teammate. I don't care if it was only a picture that I saw, I felt something, something powerful when I saw her photo."

Asuna then snickered and Kiriko huffed out a breath in frustration saying," Not like that! She has magic like ours and I think it wouldn't hurt to go see her in person to figure out if what I felt was real. I don't doubt it though, which I guess is surprising for me but regardless, I think this model Sophie is a Pretty Cure."

Asuna's eyes then widened, since Kiriko hadn't mentioned the model's name up until now. Asuna could feel her insides writhe around, now that she knew what she had felt when looking at Sophie's picture wasn't from her imagination.

" _Great,now I actually have to talk to Reo's crush_." Asuna thought to herself before she groaned.

Kiriko looked at her curiously, expecting Asuna to say what was on her mind.

"I seen her picture too, and I felt the same thing." Asuna confessed as adverted her gaze from Kiriko. Kiriko was surprised, but undoubtedly relieved and happy that Asuna also sensed the magic from Sophie.

Nova then appeared out from Asuna's bag and said," If both of you felt powerful magic from the girl, then she really must be a Pretty Cure. How soon are you able to meet with her?"

Asuna mockingly chuckled and responded with, " That's the thing. Sophie's like a local celebrity so we don't even stand a chance of being in the same room as her. Like it or not it's going to be damn near impossible for her to even acknowledge us."

"Well, even if she's famous around town, it doesn't mean we have no way of talking to her. Sophie goes to Nagasaki high school across town. She has her days when she lives a mostly normal life. We can talk to her after school or something." Kiriko suggested.

Asuna shook her head saying," God knows she's probably not going to be interested in talking to us. Chances are she only wants to be seen around people as famous as her. May I remind you she's been modeling for catalogs for years?"

"I guess that is true but, maybe Sophie might sense our magic and give us time to hear us out." Kiriko explained, moments before an idea came to her, " And I know just how to tell her!"

On the other side of town, specifically at Nagasaki high, a pair of girls, Sophie Aina and her classmate were sitting at one of the tables in the study hall. Sophie had been punching numbers into her calculator while her friend had been taking notes from her textbook.

"Hey Cho, what grade did you get on the group project for Science?" Sophie asked, while she continued to work on her assignment, not even shifting her to her friend.

"Just an eighty percent." Cho answered as she flipped the page of her textbook, "What about you?"

"A sixty-seven." Sophie answered curtly, but Cho's eyes widened as she looked at Sophie in surprise.

"What? You know I'm bad at science, its not like I failed anyways, plus I did my part of the work." Sophie claimed in her defense," It was the peer evaluation that brought down my mark."

"I see." Cho replied, as she returned to her note-taking.

Sophie sighed and continued to work on the rest of her assignment. She knew the bad mark wasn't her fault and that it wasn't a reflection of her, that's what she always said when she got a lower than expected grade. That week when the project had been assigned, Sophie had a photo shoot on the day the group divided the work amongst themselves and they left Sophie with the hardest part of the workload. She had to stay back after class a few days ago and ask the teacher for help, since the rest of the team had club activities to attend to. Plus, Sophie had been too nervous to ask them for help.

"Did you want to team up for the next project?" Cho offered, keeping her gaze on her notes that she was writing, " That way the work won't be divided so unfairly and you can do the easier stuff."

"I'd love that!" Sophie exclaimed, only to be shushed by a few other students in the study hall. Cho giggled and Sophie reddened as she hid her face behind her textbook.

"Cho is always so nice to me, I really should try and pay her back one of these days." Sophie thought to herself," She's also one of the only people who doesn't treat me differently. She sees me for me, and I don't think she realizes how much that means to me."

Sophie knew all too well that being a model came with pros and cons and these days, it felt as if the cons were outweighing the pros.

Just when she thought she had gotten used to being treated like she was different, another incident would occur and make her feel alienated again. There was an abundance of people at school who saw her as some kind of idol and thought of it made Sophie feel a disconnection from them. Many people here had gotten used to her, but still there was always someone who would approach and be insistent on treating like someone who was larger than life. The idea of it was so weird to her, but she knew there was no helping it.

So of course, she was more than thankful for Cho's friendship, because it felt genuine and because Cho wouldn't dare act in a way that'd make Sophie feel uncomfortable, the way everyone else did.

Sophie then took out a pack of gum and held it out to Cho asking," Want a piece?"

"Of what, your nasty bubblegum?" Cho asked as she looked at the gum package in disgust.

"Hey, there is nothing wrong with jellybean flavoured gum!" Sophie claimed," If there was, it wouldn't exist now would it?"

"You're such a little kid." Cho snickered as Sophie unwrapped a piece for herself.

Just then, Sophie's phone buzzed on the table, and so she picked it up. It appeared she had received an email from a potential business partner, as usual. Sophie knew it was bad practice to ignore emails from people interested in working with her, even if she wasn't that interested or was busy so she quickly read through the email to determine whether or not to decline this offer.

The sender was apparently a photography club from a high-school and the email read, "Dear Sophie Aina, we are contacting you today because we are interested in working with you. We would like to have you model for our upcoming photo shoot We understand that as a student you are typically pressed on time, so we wanted to show what it would be like working with us. So for now, we are extending an offer to visit us at our school so you can get to know us better. We've attached our school address and contact info to this message. If you can see us, please respond so we can set up a time to meet. We hope to see you soon!."

Sophie stared at this email for quite a long time, trying to determine whether or not to go through with it. The emailers predicted correctly that right now, Sophie wasn't in a position to be setting up photoshoots for awhile, not with midterms coming up anyways. But the fact that a group of students, not unlike herself, just reached out to her to do a photoshoot, it was strange but refreshing in a way. These days, students knew better to veer away from asking about photoshoots and stuff like that with Sophie, primarily because they all knew Sophie would probably decline them. It was thoughtful of them but, in a way, it made Sophie feel as if people were making the assumption that Sophie considered herself better than them. It was frustrating at times, but Sophie wasn't sure what she could do about it.

"What happened?" Cho asked as she finally took a break from note-taking and looked over to Sophie.

"Check this out," Sophie stated as she held up her phone to Cho," A school photography club wants to work with me!"

Cho took the phone from Sophie's hands, scrolling through the message. Cho wore a skeptic look on her face, and as soon as Sophie saw her friend's expression she knew she needed to defend this club.

"Ok, so I know it'd probably be weird for me of all people to do a photoshoot with some high-school kids, but who knows? Maybe this will be a really fun experience!." Sophie suggested with enthusiasm as Cho continued to read through the email,"Now, I know I was supposed to spend more time studying for these next few weeks but normal high-school kids never even see me as one of them, I'm always seen as some kind of idol to everyone and well, to be honest... I sorta want a break from that."

"I'm not stopping you, if you want to do it, then go ahead." Cho declared as she held her hands in front of herself," Just...be careful ok?"

Sophie nodded as she decided to take a break from her homework to try and get the directions to the school on her phone.

A week had past and Kiriko had slowly became a nervous wreck as the day she had been anticipating came closer. She was awfully jittery, literally everyone noticed and all Kiriko was able to do was weakly say she was feeling fine in hopes of getting rid of her classmates' concerns. Not only had she felt jittery, she was feeling guilty for what she and Asuna had done. Claiming to be part of the photography club to get a potential Cure's attention was one thing, but trying to lure a model who was probably waiting for a big-name brand to contact her so she could at last get name known? Once Asuna had told Kiriko that Sophie had yet to have been contacted by any major labels, Kiriko felt a pit in her stomach begin to form. Sophie was probably way busier than the girls had realized and Kiriko figured Sophie only agreed to visit them out of pity. What was she to do now?

Rani then appeared out of Kiriko's bag once Kiriko had reached the meeting place where Asuna told her to go once school had ended.

"Kiriko you don't look so good." Rani stated, looking up at Kiriko with concern as she took a seat.

"Don't remind me." Kiriko responded as she took a deep breath," I feel terrible. Asuna was probably right, Sophie won't really want to spend time with us, especially not after we lied to get her attention. But still, we have to do our best, and we absolutely can't mess this up."

"That's the spirit! And don't forget, you guys prepared a lot for Sophie, so if she gives you guys a chance, I'm certain you'll have her on board!" Rani exclaimed, only making Kiriko more nervous.

"If." Kiriko repeated before she groaned and rubbed her temples.

Sophie was waiting at the bus stop after school and looked expectantly in the direction the bus would be coming from. Sophie was wearing a large smile on her face as she sat on the bus stop's bench with her headphones in. Sophie had been quite excited for today; for the first time in awhile, Sophie was going to be taking photos with kids just like her. Cho tried very hard to convince Sophie in letting her tag along, but Sophie declined Cho's offer, claiming that Cho would be better off focusing on her studies.

Sophie had a feeling that today may not go as she hoped, but she chose to get excited about what could go right instead of worrying about what could go wrong.

When the bus arrived, Sophie got on and sat near the front. Normally, she preferred to sit at the back of the bus but since she wasn't familiar with the area she was going to she decided to stay at the front so she could figure out where to get off.

Once Sophie finally got off the bus, she looked around to see how nearby she was to the address the club had given her. She was actually really close by, but there weren't many students around. Sophie figured it was because they either had club meetings to attend or had gone home, so she waited around for the photography club students.

"Wow Asuna, I didn't think you'd go all out on this thing..." Kiriko remarked, as she stared at Asuna's hand-drawn puppets glued onto popsicle sticks in awe. Kiriko held up one of them that was supposed to resemble Princess Arabella.

"How did you even know what she looks like?" Kiriko asked as she held it in front of the backdrop Asuna made.

"Nova told me." Asuna answered with a shrug," And to think, this only took me three days!"

"You didn't have choose to this over homework, did you?" Kiriko asked, now feeling a bit ashamed for allowing Asuna do so much work for this.

"Kiriko don't worry, I wasn't even going to choose doing my homework in the first place." Asuna claimed with a snicker.

Kiriko shook her head in disapproval, and looked outside the window of the empty classroom they were sitting in.

At Asperity, Jack and Lilith were sitting together at a table, with Jack fidgeting with a bouncy ball and Lilith looking through a blueprint Domino had created earlier. Lately, Lilith had been quite annoyed with Domino, as he hadn't stopped Bounce from attacking the Pretty Cure last time, so now it was Domino's turn to receive the cold shoulder from her. So that left Jack as the only person who hadn't royally disgraced her these last few weeks.

Lilith was evidently uneasy as she tapped her fingers against the table, pretending to be very invested in Domino's sketches but not actually reading through them. Lilith then pressed her fist against her cheek as she started to play with the ends of the blueprint.

"So, what are you going to do if Arabella resurfaces?" Jack asked as he continued to play with the bouncy ball.

Lilith drew out a deep breath and asked," How long have you been wanting to ask that? If Arabella resurfaces, I won't show any mercy at all. I'll do whatever it takes to kill her."

"Sure you will." Jack commented flatly as he rested his head and arm on the table," So what if the Pretty Cure join forces with Arabella? What are you going to do?"

"Why are you asking so many questions all of a sudden?" Lilith asked impatiently, crumpling the sides of Domino's blueprints.

"Because you don't have the answers anybody wants to hear." Jack answered in a blunt manner," We do what you want but nobody knows exactly how this is going to lead to our "Utopia of Corrupted Magic". Don't you think we deserve an explanation?"

"Jack, I'm working on it." Lilith said in her defense," I never anticipated the Pretty Cure to reappear, I just thought my only threat would be Arabella. But, now that we have a pair of little girls messing things up, don't you think that makes me feel frustrated? Hopeless, even?"

Lilith then folded her arms on the table and placed her head on them and said,"I never thought I could hate a pair of children I've never even met as much as I hate Imogen. I ought to pay them a visit soon, because clearly these persistent little brats don't know when to call it quits."

Jack then asked," How about today?"

"No, Domino already went." Lilith replied as she finally looked through the blueprints," He made copies of this plan because he was so proud of it."

"The day has finally arrived!" Domino yelled in excitement as he put his goggles over his eyes," The day that the Pretty Cure will finally be eliminated is here!"

Domino was sitting atop of his newly-made Defective, created from a toy robot with it's left forearm broken off.

"I mean, what better thing to create a Defective from than a defective toy itself!" Domino cackled as the Defective marched towards the school.

Sophie was leaning against the gate surrounding the school, impatiently dialing the number the club provided her with when she saw the Defective march towards the school. Sophie froze on the spot and stared at the Defective in pure shock.

"Just what is that thing?" She asked, not even aware that her phone had been directed to the answering machine.

Sophie then heard a voice shout out," You sure have some nerve showing up here! This school is not yours to wreak havoc on!"

Sophie then turned in the direction where the voice came from and saw the Pretty Cure standing with their backs against each other a few feet away from the Defective.

"You're going down, jerk!" Teddy declared, only to receive an incredulous look from Dolly.

"What is this, some kinda movie shoot?" Sophie said to herself as she hid behind a nearby tree," No, something about this just feels too real to be make-believe..."

Dolly leapt up high and preformed a somersault in mid-air, landing on a electrical pole. Dolly stared down her opponent and Sophie simply stared at wonder, her eyes widened as she examined Dolly's outfit.

"She looks so strong yet so...adorable." Sophie remarked, her mouth forming a half-smile as she looked at Dolly.

Dolly held her hands up high in front of herself and shouted," Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"

A violet whirlwind had appeared and was rushing towards the Defective at break-neck speed. The attack hit the Defective straight on but, all it seemed to do was almost knock Domino off of it.

"Do you really expect a little breeze to bring my Defective to it's defeat?" Domino jeered as he shook his head," Oh, I know I can always count on you two for a laugh!"

Teddy rolled her eyes and ran towards the Defective as Dolly jumped down from the pole and followed her.

"Any bright ideas?" Teddy asked her teammates as they ran towards the Defective.

"I'm not sure yet, so do whatever you want." Dolly instructed, with Teddy grinning fiercely in response.

"Sounds good to me!" Teddy yelled as she leapt up high and began to fight against the Defective, with Dolly following after her. Countless punches had been thrown to the Defective, and while the Defective was strong, it was also quite slow, so it didn't do well in defending itself. Then again, it wasn't like it would suffer from a lot of damage due to it's metal body.

Teddy landed one punch, but ended up cracking one of her knuckles upon contact. Her eyes widened and she impulsively drew her hand back.

"Christ this thing is dense!" Teddy griped as she tenderly inspected her hand, shaking it off after a few seconds," Did you think of something yet?"

Dolly shook her head and kicked the Defective as hard as she could. Though, it appeared Dolly felt more pain in attacking than the Defective did in receiving the attack.

"Where the heck do you people find these things?!" Dolly lamented as she held her foot.

"Face it, you weak and powerless Pretty Cure! Your winning streak ends here!" Domino exclaimed with a giant grin plastered on his face," You won't be making it out of this one alive!"

Teddy groaned and looked over to her partner saying," Does he actually think we're trying that hard right now?"

"Apparently not." Dolly noted as she drew a deep breath," Ok, ready?"

Teddy nodded and the girls leapt simultaneously and continued their fight against the Defective. The two of them were appearing more energetic in their fighting now, their attacks stronger and quicker. The Defective had issues catching up with them and was facing difficulties fighting against the duo.

The Defective then kicked Dolly hard and sent her flying to the other side of the school yard, and picked up Cure Teddy.

"Excellent!" Domino cheered as he watched Teddy squirm around in the Defective's grasp. Teddy tried her best to break free, but to no avail. Teddy hung her head in frustration, trying to figure out her next move. She then glanced over to Domino, who looked quite pleased with the Defective right now.

"Holding you captive was the plan all along. Since your powers come from fire, you're only choice would be to try and burn the Defective's hand, but if you do that, you'll get burned too." Domino pointed out,"You're trapped, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Dolly was slowly bringing herself back onto her feet, cringing at the pain as she stood up. She was a fair distance from Teddy and the Defective and she just watched at the Defective held her teammate.

"Just how am I supposed to help Teddy break free?" Dolly wondered aloud as she kept her gaze on the Defective," I won't stand much of a chance now if I'm the only one fighting. But, I feel like there's an easy way to get around this. So what could it be?"

Teddy writhed around in clutch of the Defective, feeling really frustrated at this point from all her failed attempts to break free. Teddy tried to think of an alternative method, but nothing would come to her. Using the Pretend mode would've likely resulted in damage inflicted on herself, using her regular attacks would caused her to burn with the Defective and just tried to physically break out of the Defective's grip wasn't working.

"Ready to admit defeat?" Domino asked in an excited voice," In your defense, you did somewhat put up a good fight so you don't have to feel so bad. It was bound to happen anyway-"

"-Do you know how to shut up?" Teddy interrupted in irritation,"I'm trying to think here."

"Well I'm trying to tell you it's pointless! After all this time, you have finally met your match, can't you just accept that?" Domino questioned, his patience wearing thin," Look, even your teammate has run for the hills! At least she knows when to give up."

Teddy looked over to the where Dolly had been thrown, discovering she was nowhere to be found. Teddy narrowed her eyes, feeling rather doubtful that Dolly abandoned her.

"What, are you surprised?" Domino asked as Teddy stared down to the ground," I'm not! It's only natural that she'd abandon you in order to save herself! You earthlings are much weaker than you'd think. See, you've got this innate, unbearable sense of fear embedded in your minds, all because of the most meaningless things. For example..."

Teddy started to tune out Domino and instead she zoned out on a nearby lamp post. Through the reflection of the glass of the lamp post, Teddy could make out a familiar figure hiding in the tree behind them.

 _"She's planning something, but the question is...what is it?"_ Teddy thought to herself.

Dolly then leapt out of the tree and clamped her hands together. When she separated them, a sphere of wind appeared in between she blasted it towards the right side of the Defective, aiming for the nape of it's neck.

The attack landed and the Defective let go of Teddy, who wasted no time upon being freed and unleashed an attack.

"Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!" She shouted, as she placed her hands right in front of the Defective. The Defective was hit by the attack and was starting to burn all over. Only, unlike the other times Teddy preformed this attack, the flames weren't diminishing, and the Defective, unsure of what to do, was panicking as it ran in circles.

"Whoa, what's happening? Usually, the flames go away after a few seconds..." Teddy stated as she and Dolly watched the Defective run around.

"It's made of metal, so it's gonna burn up worse than the other Defectives." Dolly explained," But we don't have much time to waste, let's wrap things up!"

The Defective then started to stomp towards the Cures as the flames started to disappear. Domino, who had turned a knob on the Defective's back, then peeked his head out from behind the Defective.

"You're sorely mistaken if you think I'm going to let you win this round!" Domino yelled as he jumped off the Defective," This is my strongest Defective to date and there's no way I'm letting you two decimate it!"

Dolly and Teddy started to run as fast as they could, now that the Defective was gaining up on them.

"Good grief, I'm getting real sick and tired of this Defective." Teddy said as they ran, with Dolly nodding in response," Any ideas-?"

Teddy then noticed that Dolly was falling behind, but she wasn't was sure whether or not Dolly deliberately did that.

"Keep running!" Dolly said to Teddy. Teddy did as instructed as continued to run from the Defective. She turned around for a moment and was surprised to see that the Defective was still chasing after her, and paying no mind to Dolly, who was now behind both of them.

Dolly jumped up high and drilled a kick into the Defective's knob that was so powerful, the knob had broken off. She then projected out a small violet whirlwind from her hands and hit the Defective's right shoulder. In that very instant, she jumped backwards and the Defective turned it's head around, leaving itself wide open.

Dolly then created a whirlwind much bigger than the last one, perhaps her most powerful one yet, and launched it straight to the Defective. The Defective fell over and laid stagnant in defeat.

"Ready?" Dolly asked Teddy as she ran towards the two of them. Teddy nodded in response.

"Pretty Cure, Charming Enchant!" The two of them shouted in unison, purifying the Defective in the process and reverting it to it's original form.

Domino stood there at a loss of words, and fell to his knees as he stared down at the pavement. He shook his head in disbelief, not even looking over to the Pretty Cure or his former Defective. Domino was so out of it, he didn't even notice the Pretty Cure walking towards him.

"And just so we're clear, I would _never_ leave my teammate behind." Dolly said as she and Teddy stood in front of him,"Neither of us would run away even if that meant one of us would be safe. We're a team and more importantly...we're friends."

Domino wasn't even listening to them, all that was on his mind was figuring out how to tell Lilith about today's defeat. He nodded his head, feeling as if the explanation he decided on for Lilith would work.

"Yes, that'd be an excellent approach. Just saying that this was a test run on a new form of Defective might leave me spared. Lilith won't find reason to punish me if I put it like that!" Domino said to himself ecstatically," Well, no time to waste. I suppose I should take my leave."

Domino then vanished and the Cures looked at the spot Domino had just been with puzzled looks on their faces.

Sophie however, had been astonished at what just happened before her eyes. Magical girls with insanely cute dresses running around the school fighting a gigantic robot? This had to have been some kind of dream but still, this all felt life real life even if it all seemed too good to be true.

"How did they do all that stuff?" Sophie asked as she hid behind the tree again," I wonder if those girls came from some different kind of world, or...maybe they're normal people? I kinda want to ask them now..."

Sophie then peeked her head out from behind the tree again, only to discover the girls had already left. Sophie seemed a little annoyed, and only asked,

"Where did they go?"

"I think that's been our toughest battle so far." Kiriko said as she placed on hand on the school building to support herself, while panting," I've never been so exhausted from a fight."

"Ditto." Asuna replied, sitting down with her back against the school building," Think Sophie's still at the school?"

"Oh my gosh, I forgot all about her!" Kiriko shouted, her tone sounded quite distressed," Come on, let's go see if she's at the front gate!"

The girls then ran to the front gates to search for Sophie.


	11. Cure Bubbly, ready to play!

Kiriko and Asuna arrived at the front of the school and were surprised to find that Sophie was still there, waiting for them. Sophie was sitting on a bench, looking around to see if anyone was coming her way before she set eyes on the girls. Kiriko walked ahead and greeted Sophie in a very friendly and welcoming manner. She extended her hand to Sophie when they came closer and said,

"Hi Sophie! It's such a pleasure to meet you! My name is Kiriko and this is my friend Asuna, we're the ones who contacted you for the photo shoot!"

Sophie gingerly shook her hand, looking at the girls suspiciously. There was something off about them, somehow Sophie felt as if she had already met them. She just couldn't figure out where. Sophie then offered them a smile and the girls led her into the school.

"Aren't they those girls who were fighting against that giant robot?" Sophie thought to herself.

The girls walked inside the school, past the near empty and quiet halls to reach the classroom that Kiriko and Asuna set up for Sophie. Sophie looked around the halls of the schools, surprised by the absence of sound and students. It wasn't really something she was used to, considering she was only at school during it's regular hours. Sophie then looked at the girls in front of her and wondered whether or not it was a coincidence that the girls leading her to their club were the same ones she saw fight against that huge robot monster.

Sophie looked at Kiriko, who had her gaze set solely on the classroom they were approaching. She seemed like a serious girl, and was most likely the one who had sent her the email, as it did sound quite business-oriented coming from a high-school student. Sophie then glanced over to Asuna, who was just scrolling through messages on her phone. Asuna appeared to be a lot less interested, but since she was one of the magical girls Sophie saw fighting earlier, she had to have some part in this. She sorta seemed like a reluctant hero.

Before Sophie could draw any further conclusions, the three of them arrived in front of a classroom door. Kiriko then opened it and held the door open for Sophie and Asuna. Sophie took in her surroundings. The classroom seemed fairly average for the most part, but the one thing that stuck out the most what was appeared to be a display case for a puppet show. Kiriko then motioned for Sophie to take a seat in the chair right in front of the display case and the pair just stood before her.

"Ok so...we have to show you something really important." Kiriko began nervously," We weren't sure how to tell you this so we figured, this would be our best bet."

Sophie didn't say a word and the girls just went behind the display case.

The curtains of the display case were opened and it revealed a kingdom with a pastel pink and blue sky with glitter glue spread over it. In fact, it appeared that everything in the kingdom was pastel coloured and glittery.

"Many, many years ago there was a woman named Cure Cheer who protected a kingdom realms away from here." Kiriko narrated, holding up the Cure Cheer puppet," This kingdom was called the Laruan kingdom."

"Cure Cheer was a valiant, strong warrior. She was a mysterious woman but she was unrivaled in magical power. But then one day, a woman named Lilith appeared out of nowhere and the two fought to the death. Lilith was defeated, and Cure Cheer had died in battle. But thanks to Cure Cheer's sacrifice, the Laruan Kingdom was peaceful again."

"Years later, on the day of Princess Arabella's coronation, Lilith made an appearance and tried to steal the well that the kingdom gets all of it's magic from." Asuna narrated as she held up the Arabella puppet while Kiriko held up the Queen Imogen and King Sterling puppets. Asuna then changed the background to the fields where the well had been located.

"Arabella fought in the place of Cure Cheer, but Lilith outsmarted her and took the well and Arabella away." Asuna narrated, making the Arabella puppet fall out of view.

The backdrop changed again and the Imogen and Sterling puppets were seen next to puppets of Rani and Nova.

"And so, King Sterling and Queen Imogen made the decision to send two fairies into the human world to find new Pretty Cure to help them defeat Lilith." Kiriko narrated as Asuna changed the backdrop with her free hand.

The girls then held up puppets for Cure Dolly and Teddy, with Asuna narrating," Ever since that day, Rani and Nova have been successful in finding the Pretty Cures, and they have fought hard against their enemies."

Kiriko narrarated,"But now, they think there is another Pretty Cure among us and they think it's...you!"

Sophie then started clapping as soon as the curtains closed. Their play was very entertaining, though she wasn't expecting to see that when she came here.

"That was very cute!" Sophie exclaimed as she continued to clap," So...I take it the stunt outside was like some kinda live-action version of this?"

Kiriko's eyes widened in surprise, and she stammered out," No, that was the real thing! We were trying to tell you that even though we don't know you very well, we think you're a member of our team."

"What...?" Sophie said with a blank look on her face," I can't. I'm not magical or anything like that, I think you've got the wrong girl."

"We both felt this kind of magic when we saw a photo of you...I know it sounds weird but, it's true!" Kiriko claimed defensively before her gaze fell to the ground.

"By the way, there isn't a photo shoot." Asuna chimed in," We said that because we figured it'd be the only way to get your attention."

Sophie then remained quiet with an unreadable expression on her face. Kiriko started to feel guilty again and continued to stare at the floor while Asuna just kept her gaze on Sophie.

"How are you so sure it's me though?" Sophie then asked," Lots of people think I'm magic."

Asuna rolled her eyes and briskly explained with,"Well, real life magic works a lot differently that an empty compliment. We can sense things and we can tell who has strong powers and who doesn't. You knew we were the girls fighting the robots before right? How did you know that?"

Sophie laughed uncomfortably and then said," Well because...it was obvious. I'm sure anyone would be able to tell that it was you guys, it's not that hard."

"Really, because...I think you were able to sense it." Asuna suggested as she took a seat next to Sophie,"Think about it, you've never even met us before and you already knew that we were the same girls who you saw fighting earlier.

Sophie stayed quiet and so Kiriko felt the need to intervene by saying," Ok, maybe we were wrong. We...can make mistakes too. We're sorry for wasting your time like this Ms. Aina and-"

"Kiriko, zip it." Asuna said impatiently, her gaze still narrowed in on Sophie,"We get it if you don't feel comfortable in working with us, we don't know each other all that well. But...at least sleep on it, we really need your help."

Neither Kiriko or Sophie were expecting Asuna to be so considerate and a silence fell over the room.

Sophie then spoke up again and said," I just don't know if I should. To be honest, I like the idea of helping others but...I don't know if I should at a time like this. I'm sort of busy and I don't want to be a teammate that you won't be able to depend. Maybe I could do this part time or something?"

Kiriko and Asuna exchanged looks, both of them appearing to be unsure of the idea.

"Ok, so I guess that's out of the question. Alright, I will just sleep on it and figure it out ok?" Sophie concluded," But, you two need to understand that well, as I much as I'd like to...I'm not really able to. I...I'll try to get back to you soon."

Sophie then gathered her things and left as quickly as she could. Kiriko wanted to run after her, feeling as if they somehow had upset Sophie but she wasn't sure why. Asuna stopped her from doing so though. Asuna then pulled up a seat for Kiriko.

"She'll come around. We just have to give her some time."Asuna stated, with Kiriko nodding in response, though the latter had a vacant look in her eye.

"Yeah you're right..." Kiriko responded, though her tone wasn't very convincing.

When Sophie got on the bus, she finally was getting all those stares from high-school students she frequently received in public and while she had gotten used to it and would usually be inviting and kind to her fans, today she was just too caught up in her thoughts to pay any attention to them. Today really didn't go as expected and Sophie was currently trying to determine why she was feeling so disappointed right now. At first, she thought it was because she didn't get to have a photo shoot today but, that didn't feel quite right. She decided that she'd rather not think about it and just focus on other things as she scrolled through her phone.

Just then her phone started to ring and Sophie answered it immediately after seeing who was on the other line.

Sophie said,"Hey-"

"-How did everything go? There weren't any creeps there right? Just a normal photo shoot?" Cho probed into the phone, sounding a bit anxious.

"It was fine." Sophie answered, her tone a lot colder than usual," I can tell you all about it tomorrow ok?"

Cho was quiet on the other side for a few moments, since Sophie had seldom spoke to her like and said," Ok, see you tomorrow."

Soon after, Sophie arrived home and was greeted by her mother and her four younger siblings, Eric, Liam, Anika, and Inna.

"Welcome home Sophie, dinner will be ready soon." Her mother called out from the kitchen," Can you keep an eye on your siblings for now?"

"Yeah of course." Sophie said as she took a seat on the center of the longest couch in the living room. Her siblings then crowded around, each of them trying to have a conversation with her. The kids were louder than usual, probably because she came home later than they expected. They all appeared to be as excited as ever though.

"Sophie me and Liam and wanna to play the party game but both of us want to be Mario!" Eric shouted with his younger brother giving him an angry look.

"I said I wanted Mario first so I should play him!" Liam claimed, practically screaming in Sophie's ear.

"Ok, how about this?" Sophie began," Neither of you plays Mario this round so it's fair ok?"

"Ok..." The boys said together, sounding unstatisfied with Sophie's response and went to play their game.

"Sophieeeeee! I saw a pretty dress in this book I got from the library!" Anika exclaimed before rushing to her backpack to get the book. She flipped to the page as quickly as she could and pointed to the dress while showing it to Sophie.

"It looks like this! Can I have one just like it?" Anika asked as Sophie took the book from her to get a closer look.

"Ooh, you're right Anika, this is a pretty dress." Sophie commented as she brought Anika closer to her," I think a nice satiny fabric would make this dress look super pretty. I think I can make it. Just let me take a picture of the dress before you give the book back alright?"

Anika nodded and then Inna asked," Can I have one too?"

Sophie laughed and put her arm around Inna saying," You sure can."

Sophie and her little sisters watched the boys played a game of Mario Party until dinner was ready. The boys weren't very good at their game but lucky for them, they had three handicap stars so they were most likely going to win this match. Just before they got to finish their game though, Sophie's mother called them to the kitchen and dinner was served.

Today they had spaghetti, which was easily the favourite meal for Sophie's younger siblings. But, they were messy eaters and tomato sauce was virtually everywhere. Sophie didn't really mind too much, she thought it was actually kind of cute and patiently cleaned off the tomato sauce from Anika and Eric's face while her mother handled Liam and Inna. The kids then went back to their game and Sophie helped her mom do the dishes.

"So how was school today?" Sophie's mom asked as she scrubbed a dish coated with sauce," You said you had to go somewhere after class, did you have any trouble finding the place?"

Sophie shook her head as she rinsed off another plate as she said," No, the problem was well...never mind. It was ok, but things didn't go as I planned. I guess I thought I was going to make new friends but...that didn't really happen."

"I see." Sophie's mom commented. Sophie and her mom were almost finished cleaning the dishes and once they were done, Sophie went up to her bedroom.

Sophie's bedroom was painted a very calming shade of blue and the room itself was quite spacious. Not just because she had a big room but because, she didn't really have much inside of it. Sophie's room seemed to have been inspired by minimalism with the low amount of things she kept out in the open. She didn't even have many posters up in her room either. All one could see in Sophie's room was a white desk with a laptop, a sewing machine on a table on the other side of the room, her double sized bed with blue sheets and yellow throw pillows and a painting of a river populated by ducks hung above her bed.

She was laying on her bed with her head at the foot of it and rereading the message the girls had sent her last week. Something about it was bothering her but she just wasn't sure about what it was.

"Was I so annoyed because...I was hoping that they'd want to be friends with me?" Sophie asked herself as she put her phone down for a few moments and sat upright," I mean...I guess it does make sense. I don't have many friends to begin with, so for these two to just contact me like that, I guess that made me expect them to want to get to know me, without all the idolizing. But, they didn't want to get to know me because I'm a model. They...they needed me."

Sophie sat cross-legged on her bed, unsure of what she should do. Maybe she should've given the girls a chance. But...would her own busy life allow her to take on such a task? She hugged her legs and thought about what to do. Declining their offer would mean she could live her life as she normally would as she wouldn't have to worry about fighting some gigantic monster that appeared out of the blue. She could just focus on school work and modeling as always, and everything would remain the exact same.

The 'exact same' of course, had some drawbacks but, it wasn't anything she wasn't used to. People treating her like a celebrity and perceiving her as someone who thinks she's above everyone else. There really wasn't an in between but, she was ok with it. She had people in her life that saw her for who she really was. It might not have been a lot of people, but it didn't matter. But, this obviously wasn't only about her, those girls were fighting in order to protect others and chances are, they didn't intend to be a part of this either.

"They're asking for a lot from me but...what would happen if I say no?" Sophie asked aloud.

The next day, Kiriko, Asuna and the fairies decided to have lunch together to talk about what happened yesterday. Kiriko was awfully quiet though and would only chime in to correct Rani or Nova as Asuna relayed yesterday's events to them.

"She seems nice but the issue is getting her on board with us." Asuna explained, while eating her lunch," Surprising no one, she said that she'd probably be too busy to help us out because she's got school and modeling stuff to do."

"Hm, Kiriko she kinda sounds like you when you first became a Pretty Cure." Rani noted as she looked over to Kiriko.

"Really? I don't know...I guess I didn't really see it like that." Kiriko explained in an uneasy voice," All that was going through my mind was that she's a model, she's probably busy and doesn't have the time for us."

"But whether or not she was busy she did make time to see you guys." Nova reminded them," And first and foremost, I think you guys forgot about something when explaining everything to Sophie."

Kiriko and Asuna remained quiet as they tried to think of what it was that had been left out.

"Isn't this funny?" Jack remarked sitting on a bench next to Domino," You were making fun of me because I was avoiding Lilith and now look at what you're doing!"

Domino rolled his eyes and shook his head before he took a deep breath saying," I'll have you know that I did discuss the outcome of the last encounter with Lilith, very briefly I might add."

"Go on." Jack beckoned in a near imperative voice as he crossed his legs.

Domino didn't even look at Jack, knowing that his brother was likely wearing a very excited look on his face. Domino instead looked straight ahead and unwillingly continued his story.

"So, I went to go see Lilith and I explained what happened. I made sure to tell her that this had been a test run of sorts." Domino explained patiently," Only, she didn't take it as I expected. Lilith said she had enough with test-runs and was completely irate. So I weighed out my options in order to determine what to do next and thus I decided that I should simply keep a low profile. And that is why I have been absent at Asperity."

Jack then burst out into laughter, further agitating Domino. Not only was Jack's laughter loud, it was obnoxious too. So obnoxious that Jack had been receiving quite a few stares from passerbys. Not to say they hadn't already been garnering quite a bit of attention with their odd appearances, it's just that the amount of attention had doubled now because of Jack.

Domino shook his head and Jack wiped a tear from his eye saying," And aren't you supposed to be the oldest too? Imagine that, getting scared of someone who's younger than you and having to escape to the human world just so you can hide from her!"

"You know things are much, much different now so it's not as if I'm merely running away from Lili!" Domino exasperated defensively before he drew out another sigh," She's...very different now too."

"So, how are you going to make things up to her?" Jack asked curiously.

"I'm going to fix everything with this!" Domino proclaimed as he revealed yet another blueprint that had been stowed away in his jacket," This plan is going to work without a doubt, I'm a hundred, no, a _thousand_ percent sure!"

A week later, when Sophie had left school immediately after class had ended, she inevitably aroused Cho's suspicions, and all Sophie could say was that she had something urgent to attend to. Cho would've stopped her, but Sophie really seemed like she was in a hurry, so Cho let her go. But of course, Cho wasn't going to waste her time before class next week to ask about it.

Sophie got on the bus and impatiently looked out the window as it drove further and further away from the she was feeling all sorts of uneasy, but the thing that had been bothering her the most was the idea of going to see Kiriko and Asuna again. She wasn't really sure how to articulate the thoughts going through her head but she knew this had to be done. Sophie put her headphones and tried put herself at ease as she rode the bus.

Meanwhile, Kiriko and Asuna were sitting at the tables near the school building, waiting for Sophie. Sophie had sent Kiriko a text message earlier saying that she wanted to meet the girls after school to further discuss things with them. Kiriko had been shocked to receive the message, believing that Sophie wasn't going to want to have anything to do with them. Asuna on the other hand, seemed a bit restless as she tapped her fingers against table.

"Doesn't she have plans on her Friday afternoon? I'm not trying to spend the rest of the day here." Asuna griped as she rested her head on the table.

"She's probably been busy, you should be thankful she's even coming to meet with us in the first place." Kiriko chided, keeping her eyes on her phone screen.

Suddenly, the girls heard an awfully loud scream from a few feet away and immediately rushed to the scene. Standing at the front of the school was Domino holding a neon blue yoyo with it's string all tangled up. A student was laying unconscious in front of him and gallantly he shouted out,

"Do your worst, Defective!"

He tossed up the yo-yo he held in his hands and the yo-yo turned into a Defective.

Kiriko looked unusually impatient and just retrieved her PlayPact from her bag, with Asuna following suite.

"Pretty Cure, it's playtime!" The girls shouted in unison as an array of purple and orange lights appeared from their Playpacts.

"The Princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.

"The dame of hope, Cure Teddy!" Teddy introduced.

The Pretty Cure dashed to the scene, standing before Domino and his newly formed Defective. Asuna held her fists in front of herself, and Dolly simply folded her arms while wearing a rather irritated look on her face.

"Hey Domino, do you jerks at Asperity have a thing for planning your attacks at the worst times possible?" Dolly asked as she narrowed her eyes at the Defective.

"No, I suppose we're just lucky that way." Domino answered with a smile forming on his face as he leapt up high to watch the fight from a safe distance.

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!" Dolly shouted as a pair of violet whirlwinds appeared from both of her hands. The attack hit the Defective dead on, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect on it. After being hit with the attack, the loop on the Defective's string got caught on a lamp post and the Defective launched itself back at the Cures.

The Cures impulsively ducked and watched as the Defective collided with the school building. The two of them stared at the Defective for a few moments, taking note of the fact that a small crater in the school building had been made.

"Maybe you shouldn't do that." Teddy commented after a few moments, with Dolly nodding in response.

Sophie arrived at the school and was surprised to find the school was empty again, but what surprised her even more was seeing a giant yo-yo monster getting launched up into the air by the Pretty Cure. Sophie's mouth was agape as she watched the Defective plummet back to earth.

"They're at it again?" Sophie asked in an incredulous tone as the Defective met the ground," What should I do?"  
Teddy was trying to engage in combat against the Defective, but the Defective wasn't giving her any openings. Just then, the Defective unraveled it's string and encircled it around Teddy. Once Teddy was held tight in the Defective's grip, the Defective let go of her by pulling back the string, causing her to spin around. By the time the spinning was done, Teddy was quite dizzy and a tad nauseous.

"God, I'm getting real sick of this thing!" Teddy lamented as she tried to gain balance.

Dolly offered her teammate a look of sympathy before she saw the Defective getting ready to preform the same attack again. Dolly's eyes widened and she darted towards them.

"Teddy watch out!" She shouted, trying to get Teddy out of the way, but only getting both of them caught in the attack.

Dolly and Teddy were bound in the string of the Defective, but this time, the Defective wasn't letting go. Domino then came back down to the ground and wore a smug look on his face as he approached the Pretty Cure.

"Well, it's about time." Domino said to the girls," You girls have been causing me so much unnecessary anguish. Slaving away at my blueprints, only to get berated by Lilith for all of my shortcomings. But now this dreadful era has at last come to an end. Your adventure ends here."

The Pretty Cure were still trying to break free from the Defective's clutch and had only been half-listening to Domino.

"Look creep, you're not through with us yet." Teddy declared as she and Dolly writhed around within the Defective's grip," We won't let you get away with this!"

"Well, who's going to stop me?" Domino questioned inquisitively.

"I am." Sophie said as she walked towards them," I'm going to be putting an end to this whether you like it or not."

Domino examined Sophie as she reached the group. He could feel the magic coming from her and he despised the fact that it was as strong as the Pretty Cures. He then reminded himself that even if she was as strong as them, it wasn't as if she couldn't be brought down by his Defective as well.

"Wow, aren't we brave? Rushing into a pointless defeat like this," Domino remarked as he put on his goggles," You seem like a smart girl so I'm giving you a fair warning. You're better off leaving, this doesn't concern you."

Sophie had an indecisive look on her face but then said," I'm not going anywhere. I admit I don't know much about you but what I do know is that you're hurting these innocent girls and I won't stand for that!"

"Good grief, you're much more stubborn than I had expected." Domino admitted tiredly," However, I'll have you know that I'm not interested in meeting defeat either."

Domino then turned around to face his Defective to say," Ditch the string so we can get rid of her while we still can."

The Defective did as told and removed the string from it's body, with the Cures still being held captive. The Defective then zipped towards Sophie as fast as it could. Domino laughed at the sight, as Sophie looked like a deer in the headlights without a clue of what she could do.

"See, this is what happens when you don't listen to some friendly advice." Domino explained as the Defective rushed past him," You think you're so high and mighty and then all of a sudden you'll be down on your knees begging for mercy!"

"I'm not going to be an opponent who will turn my back on my beliefs! If I think something is wrong, then I'll put an end to it!" Sophie shouted as the Defective drew closer to her," Starting with you! I'm going to be the one who serves defeat and I'm going to do the right thing, no matter what!"

Just then, the atmosphere around Sophie turned yellow and blue and floating right in front of her was a blue, yellow and orange PlayPact.

"What on earth is going on?" Sophie asked as she looked around," Does this mean...I'm a Pretty Cure too?"

"Sophie, use the PlayPact and shout 'Pretty Cure, it's playtime'!" Dolly called out to her.

Sophie nodded and then did as instructed, holding the PlayPact in her hands and shouting," Pretty Cure, it's playtime!"

Sophie was transported to a bright sparkling yellow void where lights danced all around her. The lights covered her body and once they disappeared, a short sleeved yellow button shirt with a blue and orange vest was in it's place. She twirled around like a ballerina and a blue and yellow skirt reaching her knees had materialized onto her body. Next, she gracefully held her hands out and a pair of yellow and blue sleeveless gloves extended to her forearms had appeared. Next, she jumped up high and a pair of yellow boots with blue polka dots covered her feet. She then placed her hands over her chest and an orange bow with a rain drop in the center was formed, along with a larger orange bow on her back. Lastly, she ran her hands through her hair and it got longer and turned tangerine orange, with a yellow and blue sailor's hat appearing on top of her head.

She opened her now orange eyes and said," The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"Not another one!" Domino shouted angrily as Bubbly stood before them.

"Ok so...that just happened." Bubbly stated as she studied her hands, not feeling any different just yet.

"That's it, I've had enough of playing around." Domino declared as he pointed his index finger at Bubbly," You're history, you insufferable brat!"

The Defective dashed to Bubbly and so, Bubbly jumped up higher than she intended to in order to evade the attack.

"Oh my god, how do I control this?!" Bubbly hollered as she held onto her hat.

"Look at her go." Teddy remarked sarcastically, while Dolly just shook her head.

"Don't act on impulse, otherwise any action you do gets stronger than expected!" Dolly shouted out to her, but she couldn't tell if Bubbly heard her.

Once Bubbly landed on her feet, she took a deep breath and stared down her opponent, saying," Ok, that wasn't so bad. I may've just jumped about a hundred feet up in midair, but I'm fine. Now, to settle things here."

Bubbly then started to fight with the Defective, and though she was a novice to this whole Pretty Cure thing, she wasn't that bad a fighter. Quite a few of her attacks had landed, though she was lacking in agility. Even if she was just getting used to these powers, Bubbly had to admit, she was actually she was doing this well. It felt invigorating in a sense. The Defective then grabbed Bubbly by the leg and held her up to eye view. Bubbly hadn't expected that and just nervously stared at the Defective.

"Such a short-lived career as a Pretty Cure." Domino remarked as he shook his head," Kids like you think it's all fun and games, but just wait until we get rid of you and the rest of your team."

 _"There must be something I can do!"_ Bubbly thought to herself frantically _," Those girls fought with magic last time, maybe I can do that too? But exactly how am I to do that?"_

Bubbly then tried to concentrate and then held her hands in front of herself shouting," Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!"

From her hands emerged a massive stream of water. The attack had hit the Defective directly in the face and so the Defective impulsively brought it's hands to it's face, letting go of Bubbly in the process.

Bubbly appeared to be quite proud of herself from breaking herself free, but the Defective didn't appear to be amused with her. The Defective glowered down at her and Bubbly hadn't anticipated the Defective to recover so quickly.

"Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!"

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"

The Defective had been hit with a pair of attacks from behind and finally, the Defective had been depleted of all it's energy. The Defective fell over and behind it was Dolly and Teddy.

"How did you guys break free?" Bubbly asked.

Teddy shrugged as she responded with," The grip on the string got weaker out of nowhere."

"I think it had something to do with the fact that the Defective was facing some trouble in fighting against you." Dolly explained," Anyways, now we gotta purify it!"

Bubbly nodded, though she was unsure of how to do that. Dolly and Teddy then ran up towards the Defective with the latter saying "We'll handle it!"

"Pretty Cure, Charming Enchant!" Dolly and Teddy shouted in unison, cleansing the Defective and reverting it to it's original form.

"That was amazing..." Bubbly said to herself once the girls had finished purifying the Defective. The Cures then ran up to Bubbly.

"Ok so, when we had been explaining the whole Pretty Cure thing...we realized we kinda left out something important." Dolly said as she and Teddy undid their transformation," Sophie, we don't only want you to complete our team, we want to be friends with you. Can we do that?"

Bubbly undid her transformation and was astonished that the girls gave her such an offer. She definitely hadn't been expecting it, but it was what she wanted all along.

"Absolutely!" Sophie beamed with a large smile on her face.


	12. A Closer Look

The girls figured it was about time they all went home, so they left the school. Kiriko and Asuna walked with Sophie to the bus stop as a bit of an awkward silence formed between the three of them. Sophie had a very relieved expression on her face, but still it seemed as if something had been bothering her. She smiled to the girls, and cleared her throat and finally said what had been on her mind.

"So, it seems like you guys still see as some kind of celebrity, so I think in order to get past that, you guys should come to my place sometime next week." Sophie suggested as she fidgeted with her hands," I think it would help us out a lot not only to work better as a team, but to become better friends too."

Kiriko and Asuna nodded in agreement, with the former saying," I'd love to, it's just my schedule next week is pretty busy...I won't have any free time until next Friday."

Asuna narrowed her eyes at Kiriko and simply thought to herself," _Why is she acting like this is something new?"_

"Oh that's ok...would you guys be able to make it for this Sunday?" Sophie questioned.

Kiriko went through her schedule mentally and nodded, so she and Sophie turned their gaze to Asuna. Asuna appeared to still be determining if she was available on Sunday.

"Yeah I should be fine." Asuna said, with Sophie smiling a large smile in response.

"This is going to be a lot of fun!" Sophie exclaimed as they all continued to walk again," We can get to know each other, we could all do something fun together like bake cookies, oh and we could even play video games if you guys really want to!"

 _"She's really excited, she reminds me of a little kid..."_ Kiriko thought to herself sheepishly as Sophie continued to list off all the fun activities she had in mind.

 _"Would this be a bad time to give her Reo's number?"_ Asuna thought to herself with a blank look on her face.

When the girls reached the bus stop, they parted ways with Sophie as she was going to opposite direction. Kiriko went to the other bus stop and Asuna just walked home.

As Sophie boarded the bus, she was feeling all the excitement brim up inside of her as she thought about Sunday. It had been ages since she had a friend come over and all Sophie could think about right now was all the types of things that kids her age normally did when they went to each other's house. Sophie then considered inviting Cho too, but knowing Cho, she would've been too busy at work to make an appearance. She then reminded herself that she invited the girls over with the intention of getting better acquainted with them so clearly, what she should've been deciding on right now is exactly how to have them perceive as a normal girl, the way Cho and her family did.

When Kiriko arrived at her house, she was home alone, as she expected. She walked into the living room and crashed onto the couch. It felt somewhat unnatural as she hadn't done that in ages. She was sitting sideways on the one-seater in her living room, with her legs dangling off the right arm of the chair and her head rested on the left arm.

Rani then came into the living room after she heard Kiriko arrive home.

Rani had unintentionally snuck up on Kiriko and asked her," So how did things go today? Did Sophie join the team?"

Kiriko had been greatly startled and jumped a little, as she said," Rani, you can't just come downstairs like this! What if I wasn't home alone?"

"But...you are home alone." Rani reminded with a slight frown on her face, with Kiriko groaning in response," Anyways, so how did things go with Sophie?"

"She's a Pretty Cure." Kiriko replied confidently," She's really nice too but, she thinks that Asuna and I are still treating her like a celebrity, so she invited us to her place so we can get to know her better."

"Ooh, that sounds like fun!" Rani commented," But...what do you mean by treating her like a celebrity?"

Kiriko had started to scroll through her phone and without lifting her gaze from it, she responded with," Well, because of the fact that she's well-known, I think Asuna and I inevitably started to believe that Sophie would be acting like she's way better than us. Basically, we were judging her and drew our own conclusions based from what we heard about her."

"I see...so, is Sophie mad at you guys?" Rani questioned as Kiriko continued to scroll through her phone.

"I dunno, I'm assuming she's at the very least annoyed about it, but she didn't seem that upset about it." Kiriko answered, feeling somewhat guilty in how she treated Sophie," Chances are, she's used to it by now."

Rani then nodded in understanding, and just then, Kiriko's phone started to ring. On the caller ID, it showed Hayase's name. Kiriko sighed and felt knots forming in her stomach as she watched the phone continue to ring. Finally she answered the call and braced herself for the worst.

"Hey Hayase, how's it going?" Kiriko asked, trying to hide her nervousness with her unusually nonchalant tone.

"Good, what about you though?" Hayase inquired. Kiriko held back on another sigh so she wouldn't concern Hayase. She knew that Hayase wasn't calling to reprimand her or anything like that. All he probably wanted to do was to check up on her since her participation at student council had been, sub-par.

"I'm fine." Kiriko answered curtly, wishing she could just hang up the phone right now.

"Are you sure? You've been a little...out of it lately." Hayase stated, with Kiriko rolling her eyes in response,"You didn't show up to last week's meeting and didn't notify me or Tadeshi and yesterday one of the first years reported that you were just texting someone on your phone for half of the session."

"Look, I swear, everything's ok." Kiriko reassured Hayase, not realizing how impatient she sounded," I got caught up in some important stuff but it's fine now. I promise I'll be back to normal for student council."

"Alright...I was just calling to make you were ok. I'll see you next week?" Hayase asked.

Kiriko nodded, before remembering she was on call and said," Yeah, I'll see you then."

She hung up and sunk deeper into the chair as she returned to scrolling through her phone while saying," I should've seen that one coming. I'm not usually one to do stuff like that during student council sessions. If anything, _I'm_ the one who's usually reprimanding the members."

"Of course Hayase isn't all that upset with me, he's probably just trying to ensure that I'm staying out of trouble. Besides, he's never really been good at scolding others." Kiriko said to Rani, who was laying in Kiriko's lap now," That day I was absent, I had been helping Asuna try to make a script for the puppet show and then I had been texting Sophie the last meeting. Despite the fact that I told Hayase everything will be fine from here on out, I can't actually guarantee that. But, even if things are to get harder, I can't let that distract me from what's important!"

Rani nodded in agreement and so Kiriko declared,"I'm might be having a rough patch right now trying to balance my school life and this Pretty Cure business, but I'm not going to let that get the best of me. I'm going to work hard to excel and improve. And I won't do it only for myself, I'm doing it for my team!"

When Asuna got home, she was unusually quiet as she walked into her house and straight towards her bedroom. Her headphones were blaring her music louder than normal, it was so loud than Tadeshi, who had been studying in the kitchen, could hear it too. Asuna didn't pay any mind to him, not even offering him a greeting and just walked towards her room.

Tadeshi narrowed his eyes at her as she walked past him, muttering to himself," She's definitely going to be the first one in the house to go deaf if she keeps that up."

Once Asuna walked into her room, Nova looked at her expectantly and asked her," So, did you guys find out if Sophie's the next Pretty Cure?"

Asuna nodded and took her water bottle out from her bag. She opened it up and took a large sip from it and after she was finished, she reached the largest pillow on her bed.

"Nova, you know what to do." Asuna said as she held the pillow in front of herself.

Nova then sighed and made her horn glow blue, causing the pillow to float in midair. Asuna then stood up and start delivering a flurry of punches to it without a second thought.

"Honestly, Asuna you need a better way to release all that pent-up aggression." Nova declared with a sigh as she watched Asuna attack the pillow," Somehow it's not surprising you'd be so willing to exploit my magic the second you found out how you'd gain something from it."

"I can't help it!" Asuna shouted as she delivered a punch straight into the pillow," At the rate we're going, my fighting just won't be enough. And Sophie's good at magic too so sooner or later...I'm gonna become the weakest link."

Asuna took a short break to catch her breath as she said," I can't keep depending on my fighting alone to get me through. I need to master the Pretend mode otherwise the others are just gonna..."

Nova waited for Asuna to complete her sentence, but she didn't say another word. Instead, she sat on her bed and stared down at the floor, lost in thought. Nova sat next to her on her bed, staring up to Asuna with concern as she remained silent.

"Does all magic feel the same? Can you only feel how much magic a person has?" Asuna inquired, her gaze still on the floor.

"No, the feeling of someone's magic is very...valuable in a sense. Magic can feel similar based on how much one person has but, with more concentration you also feel many other things. Stronger magic will have a more distinguished sense to it; it can feel inviting and energetic, or mellow or even...ominous. Feeling the magic of someone can give a person a good idea of that someone's personality. But...sometimes magic can be deceiving and tricky. Some people with very strong magic will use a special form of seal to make their magic unable to be sensed by others. But doing this means that person won't be able to use their magic. They won't be able to divide their Patchwork hearts or cultivate their powers...they'd be like a normal human."

"Why would someone do that?" Asuna asked.

"Often times it's because they fear their own powers." Nova answered with a grim look on her face.

Their was a silence between them for a few moments and then Asuna asked," What does my magic feel like?"

Nova looked over to Asuna and smiled saying," It feels different, but in a good way! It feels like a warm day on the beach, like the sun is beating down on you. It feels also like...passionate in a way, I'm not very sure how to describe it but I like it!"

Asuna then looked over to Nova and smiled to her. Asuna then stood up again and decided to continue her one-sided fight with the pillow, not to unleash her frustration but to improve her battle tactics. Asuna seemed less frustrated now which relieved Nova as she watched her fight with the pillow.

"But...Asuna's magic also feels unrelenting and rampant. There's no doubt Asuna is strong not only in fighting but with magic too, it's just...her magic feels somewhat hard to tame."

On Sunday, Kiriko and Asuna went to Sophie's house together. Unlike all the other times before, Kiriko and Asuna had actually been in conversation for the majority of the ride there. For once things were awkward between them as they had been united in curiosity of what kinda house and lifestyle Sophie had. Rani and Nova had even been listening intently to their theorizing from inside their respective owners' bags.

"She said that we treat her like a celebrity so chances are she probably lives in a regular house." Kiriko stated with Rani and Nova nodding in response, though Asuna didn't appear to be convinced as she shook her head.

"Maybe but, what if she's downplaying her lifestyle to make us think she's just like us?" Asuna suggested, with the fairies also nodding to her input," Or what if she has no idea what an average person's lifestyle is like, so she just thinks she's normal by default?"

"I don't know, Sophie doesn't seem that naive. Surely she has some knowledge about the working-class lifestyle." Kiriko insisted, though Asuna still appeared to be unsure," Oh, the next stop is ours!"

The girls got off the bus soon after and had to walk down the road into a somewhat plain neighborhood to get to Sophie's house. Ask the girls walked deeper into the neighborhood, they were starting to have doubts in their belief that Sophie was living lavishly. After about an eight minute walk into the neighborhood, the girls reached what appeared to be Sophie's house. Kiriko and Asuna stared at it curiously, both of them thinking the same thing. Kiriko then stared down at her phone, to see if they had the correct address with Asuna joining her moments after.

"Well, I guess this is it." Kiriko said awkwardly as she and Asuna walked briskly to the front door.

Kiriko ran the doorbell and the two of them stood still as they waited for Sophie. Though they hadn't been waiting for long, it felt like an eternity to the two of them as they continue to wonder what Sophie's household would be like.

Just then, the door swung open, revealing Sophie in the doorway. Sophie smiled to the girls and then said,

"Welcome girls, come on in!"

Sophie ushered the girls into her house and the girls looked all around as Sophie led them upstairs. The house was big but not as luxurious as the girls expected. Despite it's size, it appeared to be quite normal. The were however dozens of family photos hung up on the walls and toys scattered on the floor. Though strangely enough, their wasn't anyone in the living room.

Sophie then noticed the girls looking around the place and said," I hope you don't mind the mess! My siblings were playing here this morning but they're playing out in the backyard now."

The girls then reached Sophie's room and just like the living room, it was spacious but ordinary. But it did have a rather stylish feel to it with the bedsheets and wall matching in color. Sophie took a seat on her bed and Asuna joined her, while Kiriko sat on the chair at Sophie's desk.

"Alright so...I feel like some things were probably left out when you guys were talking about the Laruan Kingdom and all that other stuff." Sophie began awkwardly as she took one of her throw pillows off of her bed to hug it," So, let's start with that! Why does Lilith want this Well of Wonder and how come we were the ones chosen to be Pretty Cure, what makes us different from everyone else?"

"Those are good questions!" Rani remarked as she and Nova appeared from out of their respective owner's bags.

The two of them startled Sophie and she impulsively inched away from the two of them as she stared at them inquisitively. The two of them looked familiar, and just then Sophie remembered that Kiriko and Asuna mentioned them in their puppet show. The two fairies sat in front of Sophie on the bed and Sophie held Nova in her arms gently as Rani sat on her lap.

"Pleasure to meet you! My name's Nova and this is my friend Rani." Nova introduced.

"Awww, you guys are so cute! And really soft, and warm too!" Sophie remarked as she wrapped her arms around Nova," You guys are way cuter than the plushies my little siblings have."

Nova was feeling rather constricted in Sophie's grip and urged the girl to let go.

"So starting with the question of why you girls were chosen to be Pretty Cures, the reason for that is because you girls carry a very powerful source of magic within yourselves." Nova explained.

Sophie looked somewhat excited upon hearing that as her big brown eyes sparkled. Kiriko nodded in response confidently and Asuna simply let her gaze wander to the floor.

"All magic is circulated through the Well of Wonder, but magic can also be created through the work of the Patchwork Hearts." Rani explained with Nova nodding in agreement," When a member from Asperity appears, their intent is to corrupt a Patchwork Heart in order to create a Defective."

Sophie nodded in understanding and waited for them to continue.

"Creating a Defective seems to be the only thing these goons from Asperity are good at, but unfortunately for us, it isn't very telling of their motives and we don't fully understand why they need to create these monsters when our shared goal is to find the Well of Wonder."

"Wait so, Lilith doesn't actually have the Well?" Sophie questioned curiously.

"If she did, I don't think she'd be sending her underlings to the human world so frequently to create these monsters." Rani pointed out," A good amount of time has passed since the day she made a reappearance in the Kingdom, and yet a lot of things about her and her objectives remain a mystery..."

"But, me and Asuna have grown exponentially stronger in our recent battles and with you on own team now Sophie, I think we'd stand a chance against Lilith and Asperity." Kiriko interjected.

Sophie nodded and said," I agree, but, exactly how tough is Lilith? How you guys fought against her as of yet?"

Kiriko and Asuna exchanged glances before the two of them fell silent. The girls hadn't even put much thought into how strong Lilith would be up until now. Upon hearing Lilith's name, the girls just assumed that Lilith had to be very powerful considering she defeated Cure Cheer over a decade ago.

"We haven't encountered her just yet, but when we do she's gonna wished she never made another appearance!" Asuna declared in a confident tone.

Sophie smiled and nodded in agreement and just then, her two sisters had burst into the room.

"Sophieeeeeee! Liam and Erik are hogging the Wii!" Anika shouted, with her younger sister Inna clinging to her side," We told them we were going to play our dance game but they won't listen!"

Sophie then exhaled a large sigh and rolled her eyes as she stood up from her bed and walked out of her room with Anika and Inna as she said," This will only be a minute. I'll bring some snacks and drinks when I come back ok?"

Kiriko and Asuna nodded in response and Sophie went downstairs to resolve their sibling's argument.

"Wow, Sophie's a lot normal than we expected! I'm really glad about that to be honest..." Kiriko stated sheepishly as she sat up straight in Sophie's chair.

Asuna then nodded in response and then asked," Don't you usually work both days of the weekend?"

"Well, we've had a bunch of new hires within these last few weeks so I've only been getting one shift per week." Kiriko explained in a rather cheerful tone as she stretched," My weekends have never been so great!"

Just then, the girls heard loud screams from downstairs and instantly stood up under the belief that someone from Asperity had arrived. The girls rushed downstairs with their PlayPacts in hand, ready to transform before finding out that no one from Asperity was here and the yelling was because Liam got his foot stepped on by Anika.

"Anika, that's not how you negotiate." Sophie reminded her little sister, her patience wearing thin," What if you all played one game together? We should still have enough controls for that."

Sophie then start to rummage through a box next to the console while Kiriko and Asuna watched the group at the staircase.

"Wow, Sophie's got so many siblings!" Kiriko whispered to Asuna, who didn't appear to be interested in the number of siblings Sophie had.

"Who cares about that? My question is how can she still be playing on a Wii?" Asuna asked as they watched Sophie pull four Wii remotes out from the box.

"Alright, so we've got the Wii remotes, so now all that's left is to find a game you can all agree on." Sophie declared as she looked through another box next to the Wii remotes," Come to think of it, we'll also need batteries for the extra remotes. I guess I'll go check the kitchen." Sophie stood up and turned around to find Kiriko and Asuna stand by the staircase. As soon as the girls realized that Sophie had spotted them, they gawked at her awkwardly and stood frozen in place.

"Is everything alright?" Sophie asked the girls.

"We just heard the shouting and figured we might as well go and check on you." Kiriko explained sheepishly.

"Ah I see, well I guess I should introduce you to my brothers and is Erik, Liam, Anika and Inna" Sophie introduced. The kids seemed awfully shy in Kiriko and Asuna's presence, they were a lot less noisy too. They decided to focus their attention on the issue at hand rather than talk to the girls.

And so, after finding out that there weren't enough remotes in the house for all four of the Wii remotes, the kids were discontent again and returned to their arguing. Sophie once again tried to settle things, with less avail this time. Kiriko and Asuna wanted to try and help out but unfortunately both of them had very, very little experience as not only were a part of smaller families, they were also the youngest siblings of their home. Kiriko then looked around and noticed a soccer ball outside in the backyard.

"How about me and Asuna play soccer with the boys while you watch your sisters play their game?" Kiriko suggested.

Sophie responded with, "That sounds like a good idea but-"

"That's my soccer ball so I have to play!" Anika interrupted loudly, startling both Kiriko and Asuna.

"Ok so I'll play with the boys and Anika outside and I guess you and Asuna can stay here with the girls?" Kiriko offered.

The boys Anika, and Kiriko then went outside while Sophie and Asuna stayed inside with Inna. Sophie and Asuna sat on the couch while Inna sat onto the floor, practically glued to her favourite video game that none of her older siblings liked. Sophie found it odd that Inna didn't want to go outside and play with her siblings, since she didn't like being around strangers too much, but Sophie figured her love of the video game was greater than her fear of strangers.

Sophie and Asuna watched as Inna was customizing her avatar when Asuna tried to engage in small talk with Sophie.

"So do you do those modeling photo shoots often?" Asuna asked stiffly, suddenly feeling guilty in her actions since today's gathering was held to prove that Sophie was just like them.

Sophie didn't seem to mind the question too much and replied with," I was really busy these last few months. I think I took on more work than I should've but right now...I think I'd be better off taking a little break from it all."

Asuna looked at her curiously while Sophie just kept her gaze on her lap. Asuna really wanted to ask more questions about her modeling now since things weren't adding up. At least not because of what her friends had told her about Sophie. Asuna then reminded herself than as of right now, she probably knew Sophie better than them, so she dropped the topic completely.

"Inna's really into this game huh?" Asuna remarked as she picked up the game's case next to Inna to inspect it," Princess Parisa and her fairy adventures."

"She's obsessed with Parisa." Sophie stated with a snicker," She has all of Parisa's books, has watched all the episodes on tv and has two of Parisa's costumes made by yours truly."

"You made her a dress?" Asuna repeated, her voice filled with surprise.

"I sure did!" Sophie answered brightly," Inna, go upstairs and put on the Parisa dress I made for you show we can show it to Asuna!"

Outside, Kiriko had been playing with Sophie's siblings. The kids were pretty good at soccer, but they were having issues keeping up with Kiriko. Not only because she was bigger than them, but because she was surprisingly pretty skillful when it came to soccer. The boys thought they were going to have the upper hand in this match against Anika and Kiriko, but after seeing how well Kiriko could play, they soon found out they were mistaken.

Kiriko typically knew better than to play so competitively against kids but somehow as soon as their game started, it was as if Kiriko forgot that she was playing against Sophie's siblings. The kids didn't really mind though, they liked the challenge and weren't very keen on giving up.

The group took a break soon enough and they sat at the table in the backyard.

"Wow, you're really good at soccer." Liam said to Kiriko as he opened a juice box," I'm guessing you're on the school team?"

"No way, I bet she's the captain of the soccer team!" Erik interjected.

Kiriko shook her head as she said," I just played a lot of soccer during middle school. I was on teams for a bit but...ah, never mind. So, do you guys play a lot of soccer at school?"

"Ooh, a soccer ball!" A familiar voice exclaimed from the other side of the backyard.

Kiriko and the kids looked over to find Jack holding the soccer ball and holding it in a way to check the firmness of the ball.

"I haven't seen one of these in ages!" Jack remarked as he started to play with the soccer ball and do some tricks with it.

"You better give that back right now!" Kiriko demanded as she motioned the kids to stand behind her.

"Wha-? But I'm just playing with it." Jack said in an innocent voice, but Kiriko didn't trust him," As a matter of fact, I know how to make this game better!"

Jack then tossed up a black diamond into the air and shouted out," Go forth and corrupt that Patchwork Heart!"

Kiriko tried shielding all the kids at once, unsure of who Jack was targeting.

Just then, Jack materialized right in front of her and had a very unimpressed look on his face as he said," You're in the way."

Jack kicked her back and Kiriko crossed her arms in front of her body to protect herself. Kiriko had collided with the wall and saw that the boys had ran to her side, but Anika had collapsed next to Jack.

"Do your worst, Defective!" Jack cried out as he tossed the soccer ball into the air.

The soccer ball had turned into a Defective and just then Asuna and Sophie came outside. Kiriko was still sitting against the wall, the pain from collision had felt a lot worse since she wasn't transformed. Sophie then made the boys hold Anika and go inside. Sophie locked the door once they went inside and the three of them then held their PlayPacts up high.

"Pretty Cure, it's play time!" They shouted together.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"Kind, brave and ready to play, together we are the Pretty Cure!" Teddy and Bubbly said in unison.

Dolly was astonished and immensely pleased to see that her fellow Cures had created a team speech, just as she wanted. The name of the team could've used some work though, as it felt a bit generic to Dolly.

Bubbly then walked up and stood in front of her teammates, glaring at Jack as she asked," Who are you and what did you do to my sister?"

"Ah, so this is the new Cure?" Jack asked as he floated in mid-air," You really put a damper on Domino's mood with your victory last time, so I guess this means you must be a fearsome opponent. However..."

The Defective then blasted towards the Cures, and the three of them barely dodged the attack.

"...I'd much prefer to see for myself!"

Dolly leapt up to the roof of the house and Bubbly joined her, while Teddy decided to fight head on against the Defective. Dolly seemed to have been thinking deeply about something, but Bubbly was growing impatient with her as Teddy continued to fight by herself. Bubbly then decided after a few moments that enough was enough and immediately reached for Dolly's hand.

"Come on, we gotta help Teddy out!" Bubbly clamored in an insistent tone as she and Dolly descended from the roof.

Dolly shouted, "Just wait! The Defective's about to-!"

The Defective then preformed the same attack and launched itself towards Dolly and Bubbly, with Teddy dodging the attack. Bubbly stood behind Dolly and was about to dodge, just before she saw Dolly kneel to the the ground and hold her left hand in front of herself.

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!" Dolly yelled.

The attack had been more powerful than the other times, and it blew the Defective away much farther than expected. It was a few inches above Teddy and so, Teddy wasted no time in making use of this opportunity.

"Pretty Cure kick!" Teddy shouted as she kicked the Defective very high up into the air. Teddy followed up after it and her Cures came to aid her in battle. As soon as Teddy saw her teammates from behind the soccer ball, she grinned and called out to Dolly.

"Hey Dolly, take this!" Teddy shouted as she kicked the soccer ball Defective to her.

Dolly nodded and sent the Defective flying straight to the ground. As soon as the Defective hit the ground, the Cures came following after it.

"I got this." Teddy assured the girls as she stood between them and the Defective," Pretty Cure, Flaming ring of Hope!"

The Defective was surrounded by a set of flames formed in a circle around it. The Defective looked around desperately for an opening while Dolly and Bubbly commended Teddy for her work.

"Nice going!" Dolly cheered as she gave Teddy a thumbs up.

 _"Wow, these girls are like professionals! I need to give it my all, just like them!"_ Sophie thought to herself.

Suddenly, the flames from Teddy's attacks got way more intense and now the rest of the backyard was at risk of catching fire.

"Teddy, watch out!" Dolly cried to her teammate as she noticed the flames inch closer towards her. Teddy only then notice the flames growing out of control and jumped out of reach from the flames, as she tried to figure out how to distinguish. She would usually just wait for the flames to diminish, but in a situation like this, she didn't have a lot of time to spare. Teddy was starting to panic, just before Bubbly jumped before the flames and shouted," Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!"

Bubbly's attack had cause to flames to distinguish, thus saving the backyard but also freeing the Defective. Bubbly looked quite pleased with herself, but Teddy appeared to have been regretful in her actions though her teammates failed to notice.

Dolly then delivered a powerful flurry of kicks towards the soccer ball but just then the Defective grabbed a hold of her leg and started to spin her around before tossing her into the fence of the backyard.

"Now it's my turn!" Bubbly shouted as she jumped up as high as she could to leapt onto the Defective. The Defective had yet to realize that Bubbly had landed on it's head and started to look around for her. Jack rolled his eyes at the sight and gave the Defective an order.

"Defective, start rolling and knock Bubblebrain off!" Jack demanded.

The Defective did as told to and started to roll around the backyard quickly. The Defective was rolling at a rate that was way too quick for Bubbly for to keep up and soon enough, she fell off of the Defective. Bubbly landed on her rear and wore a rather frustrated look on her face as she tried to stand back up.

"Still think you want to be a Pretty Cure?" Jack interrogated as he watched Bubbly try to get back on her feet," Being a Pretty Cure means you have no other choice but to fight and get yourself hurt for the sake of ungrateful people. These two have been doing this for so long that they believe they can't back out, so trying to convince them otherwise would be a cry on deaf ears. But, this is only your second battle, and I'm sure you're starting to wish you never agreed to this."

Bubbly was finally to get up and said," I'm sure that things are going to only get harder from here but...if I were to quit now, I don't think I'd be ok with that. These two have been working hard without reward and I think that's very admirable and I wouldn't want to abandon them knowing that I could do something to help. But you sure have got some nerve to say that kinda stuff when you're the one who started all this and messed with my little sister's Patchwork Heart! By the time I'm done with you, you'll wish you never set foot here!"

"Big talk for a rookie." Jack remarked as the Defective began to run after her.

"Pretty Cure, victory shoot!" Bubbly heard a voice shout from nearby. She then saw Dolly and Teddy kick the Defective together and the Defective had got caught in a hole in the backyard's fence that had been created by the two Cures' attack.

"Jeez, you didn't have to give the kick a name!" Teddy complained as she dusted off her shorts.

"You're one to talk! You did the same thing earlier!" Dolly reminded her.

Bubbly was at a loss of words when she saw the Defective stuck inside the fence. Admittedly, she hadn't even thought of something like that and had simply intended to fight until the Defective had been defeated. Bubbly then looked down at her hands and realized that Jack was right, she really was a rookie.

"Ah, that's right! This fight isn't over quite yet!" Bubbly reminded herself as she ran towards Dolly, Teddy and the Defective," Leave the rest to me!"

Bubbly stood between her teammates and the Defective and held her hands out as she concentrated on the Defective.

"Pretty Cure, Justice Allure!" Bubbly shouted as the atmosphere around her and the Defective turned yellow and blue. The Defective had been cleansed and returned back to it's original form. Dolly and Teddy exchanged glances, both of them being quite surprised to see that Bubbly had been able to do purify the Defective without any instructions needed.

Jack simply shrugged and said," Oh well, I guess that's another defeat for me. I'll be taking my leave."

Jack and then vanished and Dolly wore an uneasy look on her face as she thought about what Jack said while Bubbly and Teddy took a better look at the damage done to the fence.

"He seemed really unbothered just now, unlike all of those other times..." Dolly noted before she heard Bubbly screaming at the sight of the fence.

Bubbly was frantically trying to put the fence back into shape with very little avail once she realized the fence wasn't going to get restored to it's original form. Teddy simply watched her, finding entertainment in her dismay as Dolly walked up to the group.

"Why isn't it fixing itself back together?" Bubbly asked as she gave up on twisting it back into shape.

"What are you talking about? Why did you think it'd do that?" Teddy asked as she laced her fingers behind her head.

"That's what happens in tv shows like these! At least, that's what happens in Princess Parisa's Magical Chronicles..." Bubbly explained before drawing out a deep sigh _," And to think I thought these girls were really smart! That was reckless of them, what am I supposed to do about this?"_

Teddy then gave her a wave of dismissal saying," Don't worry I know what to do. We'll just say...stuff happens."

Bubbly only got even more frustrated with Teddy's answer as she responded with," That won't do! That's it, we're going to try and fix this fence right now!"

The girls then reversed their transformation and Sophie then went inside to look for supplies to help repair the fence.

"I guess we did have the wrong idea about her..." Kiriko stated sheepishly, with Asuna nodding in response," She's a lot like us, I'm glad we have her on the team!"


	13. Interviews

_"Now Kiriko, you can pick whichever ones you like, the choice is yours, but just remember one needs to be left behind." A voice said to Kiriko._

 _Kiriko's eyes were opened up wide as she looked at the four dolls lined up in front of her in the aisle. Kiriko looked just liked she did when she was six years old, wearing a blue dress with a lilac button up shirt underneath and her hair arranged into pigtails secured with silky green bows. She looked at each doll carefully, she was really happy that she could get more than one. But after looking through the all of them, she just couldn't decide which one to leave out. Kiriko was getting frustrated as she tried to make a decision and all of a sudden, the dolls all disappeared. She reached out for them but she couldn't even save one._

Kiriko then woke up, her breathing getting quick before she realized she just had a bad dream. She then checked the time, only to find out it was three thirty in the morning. She groaned and buried her face into her pillow, knowing she probably wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon.

Later on, before school started, Kiriko was on the bus thinking about the dream she had last night.

 _"Yet another dream where I can't make a decision, what a surprise."_ Kiriko thought to herself as she looked out the window on the bus. This hadn't been the first time in these last couple weeks where Kiriko had a dream like this. She was frequently being given many options in her dreams, from choosing how to spend time a date to choosing a club activity but in all those dreams Kiriko took too long to decide and all of her choices suddenly vanished. Were these what they called reoccurring dreams? Kiriko felt her eyes begin to grow heavy and so she put her earbuds in.

 _"Lately, well at least ever since we find out that Sophie was going to be the newest addition to our team, I guess I've been preoccupied with getting to know Sophie and ultimately ignoring the fact that I'm still stuck living the same routine. If I want to change how I live my life, then I need to do something about it soon otherwise just overthinking things might just cause more harm than good."_

"Can you believe this Chinami? Kiriko Tenoh's on the same bus as us!"A girl sitting closer to the back of the bus yell-whispered to her friend sitting next to her," This would a perfect chance to ask her for an interview for my next video!"

"You still really want to make hold that interview with her?" Chinami asked in an uninterested voice as she scrolled through her phone," She'll probably either be too busy or just won't take you seriously considering-"

"-But it's like the last thing I need for my series! I've had my intro made, I've done surveys of students and asked them how well the student council is doing their job, all that's left is to hear from a member of the council!"

"So then just ask our class rep Osashi or Tadashi." Chinami suggested as the bus came to a stop," It'd probably easier to interview them anyways, Nanae."

Nanae simply shook her head and impatiently stated," Because it's easy to interview them, it won't be as interesting. Kiriko isn't really like the other members of the student council. She's a very stern and serious girl, who comes off as mysterious to most people. She's dignified and is only ever seen talking to Hayase or Tadashi, and I'm sure most people would like to hear more from her too. I mean, she didn't get to be vice-president for no reason, right?"

Chinami didn't say a word as they got off the bus. In a way, her short, easily excited friend Nanae was right. Most people at the school only knew so much about her, but it never really did pique her interest. Unlike their fellow member Tadashi, Kiriko along with Hayase weren't as outgoing and easy to approach so ultimately that made them seem reserved and also aloof in comparison. Chinami knew that Nanae ultimately wasn't alone in how she perceived Kiriko. No one really talked about it, but everyone had this impression that Kiriko was just on a whole other level in intellect and that she wasn't really interested in talking to her fellow students. Because of this, some people thought it made Kiriko seem really cool, others saw quite differently though. Thankfully, Nanae didn't think badly of Kiriko and only admired her for her poise and accomplishments.

Chinami didn't realize it but Nanae had already walked up ahead of her and a few steps behind Kiriko. She wore a look of apprehension on her face, unsure of whether she should go after Nanae and stop her from making a fool of herself. But she decided that it wasn't any of her business at this point and if Nanae wanted to ask for that interview, she might as well while she had the chance.

"So what do you say?" Nanae asked Kiriko after explaining her interview request," I think you'd be a great subject to interview, and this could fun for you too!"

"I'll have to think about it." Kiriko answered briskly as they walked into the school.

Later that day, Kiriko had decided to call a last minute meeting with Asuna and Sophie after her student council session. She texted the two of them to meet her at Cafe Rosewood near to the school and walked to the cafe by herself.

Asuna and Sophie had already arrived at the cafe and were currently going through the menu to see what they should order. The two of them were awfully silent, not in awkward sense but more because they were so fixated on their menu. And also because Asuna felt a bit nervous to be in Sophie's presence right now.

Just before the girls had left on Sunday from Sophie's house, Sophie unintentionally told the girls she wasn't doing so well in her Science class. What Sophie saw as an embarrassment, Asuna however saw an opportunity. Within the next few moments, she had given Sophie Reo's number and told her that he was really good in Science, forgetting the fact that Sophie was a year older than her.

 _"Well, have you texted her yet?" Asuna asked Reo at lunch. Today, it was just the two of them and Reo's answers were started to sound evasive._

 _"Are kidding me? As soon as you gave me her number, I texted her like a minute after." Reo claimed, though Asuna didn't appear to be satisfied._

 _"What did you say." Asuna questioned as calm as she could, her patience wearing thin as a stressed look slowly appeared on her face._

 _Reo hesitantly handed her his phone and Asuna took it to read through the message._

 _"Hey I'm Asuna's friend Reo and she told me you needed tutoring so message me if you're stuck on something." Asuna read aloud before reading the next text Reo sent three hours after that one," What's happening."_

 _Asuna just shook her head and gave back Reo's phone._

 _"She never even responded to Reo's text! Not that I'd blame her though. Honestly I should've just done the texting for Reo."_ Asuna thought to herself as she hid her face behind the menu.

"Hey Asuna," Sophie then said," Why do you think Kiriko called this meeting?"

Asuna then thought about it for a few moments as a swarm of reasons came to mind. There were a lot of things within the past couple of weeks that happened that would've called a meeting. If anything, it felt like the meeting had been overdue. Asperity had gotten stronger unexpectedly, their motives still weren't clear and as a team, they weren't equal in power. At least, that's how Asuna saw it.

"It's probably because of a bunch of things happening all at once." Asuna explained as she took a large sip from her water," See, Kiriko adores order and organization so for all of these incidents that don't make sense, Kiriko would really want to find out the reason behind them as soon as possible. She's probably going to want to hear me and Nova's opinions on this stuff to come to a conclusion."

"I see..." Sophie answered plainly as she took a sip of water," But, why wouldn't she want to hear my opinion?"

"Well, you haven't been on the team that long." Asuna reminded her flatly," But if you have anything you'd like to say that you think we missed, feel free to tell us!".

"Right..." Sophie responded awkwardly as she dropped her gaze back to the menu.

Just then, Kiriko arrived at their table and took a seat next to Asuna. Kiriko's cheeks were tinted red as she had just came from outside and she took off her coat before apologizing for showing up later than intended.

"Sorry I took so long to get here!" Kiriko said as Asuna offered her the menu," My friend Hayase got caught up in a conversation about university and he started telling me stories about his older brother going to university in-"

"-England." Asuna finished, keeping her eyes on the menu. Kiriko was quite surprised that Asuna had such a lucky guess and just before she got to commend her for it, the waiter arrived and took their orders.

Once the waiter left, Kiriko then explained that she felt like they should've came together just for the sake of being in each other's presence. While it had been nice to visit Sophie's house the other day, she felt as if it wasn't enough and to more comfortable with each other, she thought nothing could beat a visit to a cafe. The girls agreed and they started talking amongst themselves, trying to break down that persistent barrier that kept them feeling distant from each other, particularly Sophie. Sophie then talked about her school life, her best friend Cho and how it was a pain to commute here.

"I'll admit this place is nice, but if I have to come out all the way here to see you guys on a regular basis, it'd probably get tiresome after awhile." Sophie explained as she took a large sip from her chocolate milkshake," Perhaps we could locate some middle ground? Maybe I could even invite Cho to come too!"

"Yeah, that sounds nice." Kiriko replied with a giggle," _"In truth, I only called this meeting to take my mind off things. As weird as it sounds, this team always seems to bring me at ease and I don't feel as stressed in their presence."_

Later that night, when Kiriko arrived home, she sat in her bedroom quietly and started to write in her notebook. Moments after, Rani came to her side to see what she had been working on.

"Are you doing homework?" Rani asked as she leaned against Kiriko.

Kiriko shook her head and put her pencil down once she had finished writing. Rani looked at her page, only to find out that Kiriko had listed out all of her activities that she did on a regular basis. Rani appeared to be confused and looked over to Kiriko in hopes that she'd explain herself.

"I've been thinking that I've just been doing too much lately, and in order to be happier, I think I should get rid of one of my activities." Kiriko explained thoughtfully," Lately, I've come to the realization that life should be more than just a busy schedule, but right now...I'm undecided on what I should abandon."

Rani was wearing a worried look on her face as she looked at the activities. She searched for the words Pretty Cure and found them enclosed in a red box in the top left corner of the page.

"Why's Pretty Cure up there?" Rani asked Kiriko as she pointed to the red box.

"It's a fixed position, meaning I'm not going to have a choice in quitting." Kiriko explained, not noticing the smile appearing on Rani's face," If I leave, the fate of Laruan Kingdom rests in Asuna and Sophie's hands, and I don't think I feel right in abandoning the team out of nowhere. Plus, I like being with you guys."

Kiriko then took her red pen out and finally drew a red marker around the word work on the page.

"I'm needed at work too, even if we're not as understaffed as we used to be..." Kiriko stated as she sighed deeply," And just like Pretty Cure, work is a commitment too! This is the second job I've ever had and they need me! At least, I think they do."

"But, I'm sure when I finally come to a decision, I'll be able to do things that I can actually enjoy and feel like I'm actually living my life." Kiriko concluded just before her mom called her downstairs for dinner.

"Coming!" Kiriko shouted back as she ran downstairs.

"That's part of it." Rani said once Kiriko was out of earshot," Not only does she needs to do things that will bring her happiness, she needs to do those things with others to get the most out of the experiences. Asuna and Sophie have yet to learn about Kiriko's love of children's books and plushies and basically that whole other side to her, she hasn't even once mentioned it in their presence. Perhaps she's just waiting for the right moment?"

The next day, Kiriko was walking to school with Rani in her bag. She had gotten up earlier than expected so decided to make use of this opportunity and walk to the school. For the first time in a few days, she had slept well, and was ready for the day ahead of her. Today was going to be more relaxed day in comparison to the rest of the typically busy week she just had. Just a regular school day and a little interview with Nanae was all she had scheduled for today, meaning she could do whatever she wanted this afternoon, much to her delight. The walk was quiet for the most part and very few people had been up at this hour in the morning. At least, not many people who walked to school were up right now. Kiriko had her headphones and was listening to music for a little bit until Rani poked her head out of the bag to ask her something.

"So after sleeping on it, have you decided on what activity you should give up?" Rani inquired as Kiriko turned her music off, but kept her headphones in.

Nanae walked out of her house and yawned as she checked the time on her phone. She still had plenty of time to get to school, but she never really got a good night's sleep at her dad's place. It was probably because of how hot her bedroom was during the warmer months of the year. Nanae then looked beyond her front gate and saw a familiar face walk past her house. Nanae then walked out quickly to see whether or not her eyes had been playing tricks on her. No doubt about it, walking ahead of her was Kiriko who appeared to have been talking with someone.

"She must be talking to someone on the phone." Nanae stated as she hastily took out her notebook," Maybe I'll get something really good to work with for my interview!"

"The thing is, both of them have been in my life for so long that having the choose one over the other is tougher than I realized..." Kiriko confessed as she continued to walk.

 _"Could she be talking about choosing between Hayase or Tadashi?"_ Nanae thought to herself as she took notes as quickly as she could _," She better choose Tadashi."_

"Cram school is helpful, but it just takes up so much of my time and with student council...sometimes it just feels like a chore. Both of them can get very stressful easily and I don't see the point in staying if I don't feel like I'm gaining much from it." Kiriko explained after a few moments.

"Kiriko's thinking about quitting student council?" Nanae thought to herself as she wrote down even more notes.

After school, Asuna had stayed back after class and was found hanging at the tables where her friends usually sat. Most of her friends had already gone home for the day save for Reo, who she told she was going to help out in his quest to win Sophie's heart.

Asuna was waiting around impatiently at the tables, tapping her fingers against the table top before she checked the time on her phone.

She shook her head once she checked the time saying, " It's been twenty minutes, where the hell is he?"

Just then Reo appeared and sat down in front of Asuna wearing a guilty expression on his face as he said," Sorry I showed up a bit late. Saito wanted to go to the gym and I had to drill it into his head that I had other things to do."

"Doesn't matter, let's just get this over with." Asuna said as she retrieved a notebook from inside her bag. Nova was also hiding out in her bag, but as always, she had to keep quiet in the presence of Asuna's friends. Asuna then flipped to a page in her notebook.

Reo leaned in closer to get a look at the page Asuna had flipped to and was surprised to find that Asuna had put a lot of content onto the page. But the first thing to catch his eye was a bar that resembled a thermostat at a dangerously low temperature.

"What's that?" Reo asked as he pointed to the thermostat.

"How much Sophie likes you." Asuna answered flatly, with Reo cringing in response," God knows it's probably lower since you haven't texted her back ever since!"

Reo was just about to respond when Nanae had appeared in front of the two of them with her arms crossed and a boy holding his phone sideways as if he was recording something.

She glared at them impatiently and said," We're going to record here, do you mind leaving?"

Both of them had been somewhat irritated with Nanae's rudeness but stayed quiet for a few moments. Reo then made the decision to be mature about this and started to pick up his bag and leave, but then Asuna said,

"You don't get to tell us what to do. There's plenty other places to shoot at school, you can just as easily find somewhere else to shoot."

Nanae drew out a deep breath and simply stated," I'm not leaving, I'm pressed on time and my interviewee will be here any second. So would you please just find somewhere to do...whatever the heck you're doing?"

Asuna was going to decline again but Reo picked up his bag along with Asuna's and motioned her to stand up as he said," Sorry, we'll work somewhere else."

Reo then literally pushed Asuna away with Asuna yell-whispering," What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Why are you always trying to start something?" Reo asked as he shook his head, continuing to push Asuna forward," She may be pushy but I don't wanna mess with her. Nanae Izumi is a force to be feared. If we do so much as cross her, she'll have no trouble in finding some dirt on either of us."

"I don't care, she's annoying as hell!" Asuna declared as she started walking on her own," Plus...one of my other friends can't stand her because of how bratty she is."

"Sorry I'm late!" The two of them heard a voice say from behind them. Asuna immediately turned around to find Kiriko standing with Nanae and her cameraman. She froze up at the sight, worried about what could've happened to Kiriko with Nanae interviewing. Impulsively, she then hid behind the school building and forced Reo to follow suite. Asuna listened in on their conversation to the best of her abilities, and didn't really enjoy what she was hearing.

"I'm so glad you agreed to do the interview after all! This is going to be great, I've been promoting this interview literally all day on my story, so we're going to have tons of viewers today!" Nanae reassured as she motioned Kiriko to take a seat next to her while she removed some pages from her bag.

Kiriko had gotten a bit more tense after hearing that the interview was going to be live. She took out her water bottle from her bag and started to take awfully large sips from it. She was starting to wish she didn't agree to this as her nerves were now acting up. But she knew she couldn't back out now when Nanae had been so excited about this interview and was thrilled upon hearing that Kiriko would do it. So unwillingly, Kiriko stayed in place, hoping all of this would be over quickly.

Nanae was then doing a countdown from three with her fingers and gave her camera man the thumbs-up. She then smiled a very large smile to the phone and waved.

"Good afternoon, Ikoma High! It's your trusted journalist Nanae Izumi, here to deliver all the news no matter what! Today we're interviewing vice-president Kiriko Tenoh! We're going to get in great detail about the student council, how they see the future of Ikoma High and of course we have a few other things in store!" Nanae said to the phone.

Nanae offered the camera yet another bright, pearlescent smile while Kiriko timidly smiled and sat up straight.

The interview went smoothly to Kiriko, once she had reminded herself that it was simply Nanae asking her some questions. Kiriko answered them to the best of her abilities, trying to maintain that cool, calm atmosphere virtually everyone felt in her presence. Answering the questions had gotten a bit easier once she felt more comfortable in Nanae's presence. At one point it really did feel like she was only being interviewed by Nanae and not watched by dozens of other students.

"So, Kiriko before we wrap things up, there's something that's been going around that I wanted to discuss with you." Nanae began slowly, " Is it true you're planning to quit student council?"

"Huh?" Was all Kiriko could manage.

Elsewhere, specifically at Asperity, Bounce had been sitting all by herself at a table with her feet up. Bounce looked around and felt somewhat uncomfortable to be here with her fellow Asperity commanders absent. She then decided to stand up and open the door at the far left of the room and found Jack and Domino talking amongst themselves.

"Hey, that's actually a pretty good plan!" Jack said to Domino as the two of them shook hands," I bet if this one turns out to be a success, Lili will quit being a colossal jerk to us!"

Domino nodded in response and added,"Not only that, Lilith will feel so in debt to us, she'll feel that she has no other choice but to give us better...equipment to work with."

"But, I thought we'd be through with this stuff once the Pretty Cure were out of the picture." Jack said in a confused voice while Domino shook his head.

Domino then stood up and declared,"Our plans really get into motion once the Pretty Cure are history. After all, we'll have to-"

Bounce then fully opened the door, somewhat startling her fellow commanders as they hadn't noticed her listening in. The two froze up awkwardly at the sight of her and Bounce simply rolled her eyes at them.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Bounce asked as she watched Domino roll up a blue print that had been sitting on the table.

"Jack and I are going to be working together today to defeat the Pretty Cure!" Domino exclaimed with Jack giving her a thumbs-up," We came up with a plan that will undoubtely-"

"Sounds fun, you can save it for next time." Bounce suggested, moments before she turned around to leave, slamming the door shut and disappearing into the human world.

Bounce then appeared a few feet away from the tables where Kiriko and Nanae were holding their interview. Bounce was watching the interview for a few moments behind a group of trees and lost interest very quickly. She then left her hiding spot and approached Kiriko and Nanae.

"Alright, as much I'd like to sit back and watch your boring interview, I'm afraid I'll have to cut things short." Bounce claimed as she walked up to Kiriko and Nanae. Kiriko kept her eyes on Bounce while blindly trying to take her PlayPact from her bag. The camera man then stopped rolling, much to Nanae's dismay and tried to keep Bounce away from the girls.

"Hey, you can't just interrupt our live interview like that!" The camera man shouted to Bounce. Bounce didn't pay him much attention and with a wave of her hand in front of his face, he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Rikido! You, you witch! What the hell's your problem?" Nanae questioned angrily as she stood atop of the table.

"Oh, I like your Patchwork Heart, I think I can put it to very good use." Bounce remarked as she snapped her fingers, causing a black diamond to materialize," It's fragile, weak and best of all it's full of bitterness!"

The black diamond went straight into Nanae's chest and fed off all the negative energy residing in her Patchwork Heart. Bounce then pointed to the pages spread out on the table just before Nanae fell unconscious.

"Do your worst, Defective!" Bounce shouted just as one of the pages turned into a Defective.

Kiriko then held out her PlayPact and was about to transform when Bounce had instructed the Defective to take her PlayPact away. The Defective was successful and tossed the PlayPact to Bounce, who inspected it as a smile arose to her face.

"Without your teammates and your PlayPact, you're pretty much useless aren't you?" Bounce remarked, as Kiriko stood still while trying to plan her next move.

Meanwhile, Reo had been trying to convince Asuna to escape just like he planned to, but Asuna wasn't interested. Reo was literally holding her back until Asuna's patience ran out, resulting in her breaking free from Reo's grip.

"I already said I'm going to help Kiriko escape, you can go ahead of me." Asuna declared, her voice sounding much more patient than Reo expected but at the same time, it also sounded strangely intimidating.

Reo then gave up on her and left without Asuna, who immediately took out her phone to text Sophie to come and then her PlayPact once Reo was gone.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" Asuna yelled out.

Kiriko was cornered against the wall now, with her gaze fixated on the Defective right in front of her. Bounce was laughing madly at the sight of the Pretty Cure's lead Cure all alone and powerless without her PlayPact.

"I sure hope you didn't think I'd leave without taking some, if not all the magic outta you to fuel my Defective!" Bounce exclaimed as the Defective reached for Kiriko.

All of a sudden, Bounce had been hit in the back of the neck and let go out Kiriko's PlayPact out of reflex. Standing behind her was Cure Teddy, who caught Kiriko's PlayPact.

"You sure got some nerve taking my friend's PlayPact like that!" Teddy said as she glared at Bounce before she threw the PlayPact to Kiriko.

Kiriko caught her PlayPact and held her hand up shouting," Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

"The Princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.

Teddy then landed on the table next to Dolly and glanced over to her while holding out her hand in an odd manner as she said," I texted Sophie and she said she'll be here soon. Right now we'll just have to fight without her."

"Defective, don't just stand there! Go beat them to a pulp!" Bounce demanded as she pointed to the two of them.

Teddy then turned around and finally gave her attention to the Defective, holding out her hand in front of herself shouting," Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!"

Her attack had been stronger than usual and the flame lasted longer but, this time, it didn't grow to the point where it was uncontrollable. Dolly was surprised to see that Teddy's attack had gotten stronger and just before she was going to commend her for it, the Defective recovered and started to attack again.

Teddy and Dolly both jumped backwards and the Defective followed after them. The Defective then grabbed a hold of the table and tossed it towards the Cures. The Defective was unsuccessful and missed the both of them. The two of them landed onto the ground, with Cure Teddy wearing a rather unhappy expression as she looked as the spot where the table once was.

"That was our favourite table." Teddy said after drawing out a sigh," Sakuya even carved our names on the bottom of it."

"You guys vandalized school property?!" Dolly questioned incredulously with Teddy nodding in response.

The Defective then held it's hands out in front of itself and the Cures looked at it curiously wondering just what it was planning. The Defective then shot out a mass of loose sheets from it's hands. The two Cures didn't really seem impressed with the Defective's attack until all of the pages started to form one gigantic sheet of paper. The Defective then took hold of the giant sheet and rolled it up to hold it as if it was a weapon.

"What is it trying to do?" Dolly asked warily as she kept her gaze on the Defective.

"I don't know but I'm not trying to find out!" Teddy yelled as she darted towards the Defective to spar with it, with Dolly following after her.

Teddy and Dolly then tried to engage in battle with the Defective, but the Defective wasn't interested in a fight and just turned it's rolled up sheet of paper into a paper fan and blew them away. The two Cures were up high in the air, unsure of what to do.

"Two can play that game!" Dolly shouted as she held her hands out shouting," Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"

The attack didn't deal much damage to the Defective though. Instead, the Defective blew the attack back to the Cures with it's fan. The Cures landed into the branches of a nearby tree, both of them experiencing quite a bit of pain as landing on the smaller branches of the tree proved to be quite uncomfortable.

"I can't believe I didn't see that one coming!" Dolly griped as she shook her head. Just then, the Defective snapped off both of the branches the Cures had landed on and was about to toss the branches away before the two leapt off of them.

"This one's awfully energetic." Teddy noted with Dolly nodding in response.

"Your reign of terror ends here!" The Cures heard a familiar voice shout.

Standing a few feet behind the Defective was Cure Bubbly who leapt up high and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!"

The Defective looked alarmed for a moment and dodged as quickly as it possibly could. Nobody except Dolly noticed it's momentary distress. Bubbly then joined her fellow Cures and ran towards them, with both Cures being surprised she came here so quickly.

"Isn't your school on the other side of town?" Teddy asked as the three of them ran towards the Defective.

"I had business to take care of in this part of town..." Bubbly replied awkwardly as she shifted her gaze to the side.

The three Cures then began to try and fight with the Defective, but it was about to use it's paper fan against them again. The three of them stood their ground, and the only one devising a plan of sorts was Cure Dolly.

"Bubbly, do you think you can use that attack again?" Dolly inquired.

Bubbly nodded and Dolly then discussed her plan with the girls. After she explained the plan, Dolly and Teddy started running towards the Defective with Bubbly following behind. Dolly and Teddy were getting ready to attack, but the Defective still didn't have any desire to fight against them, so it swung it's fan to blow the girls away.

"Now!" Dolly shouted.

Bubbly then jumped up as high as she possibly could, out of range from the Defective's attack as she shouted," Pretty Cure Whirlpool of Justice!"

She aimed for the paper fan the Defective was holding and her attack was right on target. The paper fan was drenched in water and so all that was left to defeat the Defective.

The Cures then sprung into action and fought with the Defective. Teddy and Bubbly fought alongside each other while Dolly delivered attacks on her own. Teddy and Bubbly were much quicker than the Defective and used this to their advantage. They didn't leave a single opening for the Defective and the Defective was already reaching low levels of energy. Teddy and Bubbly then passed the Defective to Dolly, who was more than ready to deal the finishing blow. But just then, the Defective grabbed a hold of Dolly and clutched her as tightly as it could.

"Dolly!" Teddy and Bubbly cried in unison as they rushed towards the Defective.

Bounce then descended down in between the Defective and the Cures, a smile rising to her face as she watched the Cures stand around helplessly. She put her hands on her hips and listened closely, relishing in the sound of Dolly trying to break out from the Defective's clutch.

"This ends here." Bounce declared as she then stretched her arms out," You kids have been messing with us for way too long and now, we can just call it a day."

Bounce then looked over towards Dolly, who was still making the effort to break free and smirked while saying," Too bad it had to be on the day of your lousy interview."

Dolly then shut her eyes and reached for her PlayPact while trying to think of a way to escape.

 _"If I use the pretend mode, all I can mimic is the Defective's ability to shoot out paper, but that won't do me any good! What other options do I have?"_ Dolly thought to herself, looking towards her fellow teammates _," Could I use the pretend mode to mimic their abilities?"_

Dolly then decided it was worth a shot and then squeezed her eyes shut as she concentrated her magic into her PlayPact. She kept her eyes shut and felt the PlayPact grow hot at a very rapid rate. Dolly smiled to herself and kept quiet as she kept concentration.

The Defective then looked down at it's hand and as soon as it got too hot, the Defective let go out Dolly who had a ring made from fire floating around her waist.

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!" She shouted as she held her left hand in front of herself. A violet whirlwind appeared out from her hand and the Defective had been knocked down.

"Bubbly,quick!" Dolly yelled, sounding a lot more distressed now," Use your water powers and help me get rid of this ring!"

Bubbly looked a bit surprised but agreed to help extinguish the flames. Once the flames had been distinguished, Bubbly then set her attention to the powerless Defective in front of them.

"Pretty Cure, Justice Allure!" Bubbly shouted, as the atmosphere around them became yellow and blue. The Defective was purified and reverted back to it's original form.

"Ugh, it's whatever. At least Jack and Domino got a plan to use." Bounce grumbled before she disappeared.

"Hm, that Defective burned apart quite easily, but I guess that was only because it was made from paper." Dolly said stoically as she dusted off her dress. Teddy watched her with a worried look on her face, unsure if she should ask about what happened during the end of the interview.

"Something the matter?" Dolly asked once she noticed Teddy was staring.

Teddy simply shook her head and kept quiet for a few seconds before saying," If you need to talk about, anything really, I'm always here to listen ok?"

Dolly then smiled to her, and said in a slightly artificial tone," Yeah, of course!"

 _"In other words, I got caught off-guard,"_ Kiriko summarized on the phone," _I didn't think she'd pull something like that, but don't worry, I'm not going to quit student council."_

"Ok, that's great to hear. Should I try and clear this all up for you?" Hayase offered in a more relaxed voice.

"You're talking to Kiriko right?" A familiar voice said from behind Hayase.

Hayase nodded with a slightly agitated look on his face and turned his back to the person once more.

 _"No don't worry about it! I can take care of it, I'll just need to have a talk with Nanae."_ Kiriko explained with a forced chuckle," _I'm sure she'll listen to reason."_

"Tell her that stuck-up jerk would never do that." The person ordered Hayase, who was trying to make sure their voice hadn't been heard by Kiriko," Not in a billion or a zillion years!"

"Can you not?" Hayase finally said out of frustration, causing the person to finally keep quiet.

 _"Anyways, I've got some homework to do, so I'll see you next week ok?"_ Kiriko said on the phone.

"Yeah that's fine! See you later, Kiriko." Hayase said, a small smile appearing onto his face as he said Kiriko's name.

Just as soon as Hayase hung up, the person behind me got even closer and glared at him while saying," Why didn't you let me talk to Kiriko? She's my friend too."

"Asuna, you can call her on your own time." Hayase reminded her curtly," Again, why aren't you at your own sleepover?"

"Because Misa's sick and Tadashi won't let me stay home by myself." Asuna explained to him.

Hayase's expression changed from that of a skeptic one as he held back on a sigh. He really wanted to call Tadashi into the room and confirm this with him, but knowing Tadashi, Asuna was probably speaking the truth, so he chose not to waste his breath.

"I'm gonna go order a pizza for dinner." Hayase informed as he stepped out of the living room and left Asuna by herself.

Asuna then went upstairs into her room. She tossed her bag onto the floor and crashed onto the bed while Nova came out from her bag looking somewhat disheveled. Asuna paid her no mind and started playing a game on the PSP she had left on her bed.

"Hayase seems a bit annoyed you're here." Nova remarked as she took a seat on the bed next to Asuna.

"Tell me about it." Asuna responded, keeping her attention on her game as she leaned her whole body against the wall next to the bed," Somehow, I'm not surprised though. Originally I had this idea that he'd treat me differently if we weren't at school. So...guess I was wrong about that."

Both of Asuna's parents were going to be out of town during this weekend for business trips, so their mom suggested that Asuna and Tadashi plan sleepovers at their friend's place. Tadashi made plans with Hayase, his best friend, and was all set. Asuna however never heard back from Misa after texting her the day their parents already left.

 _Tadashi had been getting ready to leave and go to Hayase's place, but then he noticed that Asuna hadn't been getting ready so his suspicions had been raised._

 _"Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be at Misa's house?" Tadashi questioned as he started putting on his shoes._

 _"Oh, Misa canceled on me so I'm just going to stay here tonight." Asuna explained to him briefly, trying to keep her focus directly solely on her game._

 _Tadashi then stopped putting on his shoes and narrowed his eyes at his sister, trying to figure out what to do with her. He couldn't trust Asuna to be home alone and he didn't really want to cancel on Hayase. So instead, he thought of way to avoid both scenarios._

 _Tadashi had made the decision right on the spot and took out his phone to dial up Hayase. He probably could've simply texted him, but a part of him really wanted Asuna to hear this and see her reaction._

 _"Hey Hayase, wanna switch things up and you come over to my place instead?" Tadashi asked, causing Asuna to drop her game and toss a pillow on the couch in his direction._

 _"What the heck are you doing?!" Asuna shouted, her voice a mixture of anger and panic as she stood on the couch._

 _"Great, see you then." Tadashi said before he hung up and directed his attention to Asuna," I can't leave you here by yourself! Knowing you, you're probably just going to throw a big party and make an even bigger mess the minute I leave the house! Plus this would a great time to-"_

 _Asuna shut him up by throwing another pillow and hitting him square in the face._

"Are you going to go back downstairs?" Nova asked as she gave Asuna a worried look.

"Nah, not until the pizza comes." Asuna answered as she laid down on the bed and shut her eyes. Asuna had been looking quite exhausted ever since the fight earlier and it was to be expected, not only because she had given it her all as usual but because she had spent the last couple of days trying to tame her powers. She knew that she wasn't going to make any progress whatsoever in reminding herself that her magic wasn't like Kiriko's so to offset her loss Asuna had transformed and practiced in her room with instruction from Nova.

Nova wasn't any expert, but her first suggestion had proven itself to be successful after a short amount of time.

 _"All it took was channeling my magic into my hands, do nothing with it and just store it there until I needed my powers."_ Asuna thought to herself as she felt her eyelids grow heavy," _Nova said it was a much better form of distributing my magic but it can't be that easy. Chances are, this won't work out for long. So I've got to keep working on it I guess."_

"Asleep already?" Tadashi whispered as he opened the door to Asuna's room," I guess she'll just have to eat later."

Tadashi then went downstairs and found Hayase eating a slice of pizza. He sighed, knowing things had been slightly tense in the house once Hayase knew Asuna was also here. So he just acted casually and sat next to Hayase, taking a slice of pizza for himself.

"You know, Asuna told me she tried confronting that Nanae girl, said she was willing to fight her but that friend of hers, think it was Reo, held her back." Tadashi began, knowing he probably shouldn't have tried to begin a conversation by talking about Asuna, but he didn't seem to care," She probably got so fired up because you said you think Nanae's an entitled, spoiled brat."

" How does she know about that?" Hayase asked as he took a sip from the soft drink can next to him.

"Sorry, man. I told her about it." Tadashi said sheepishly before things momentarily fell quiet between them," I know you get annoyed whenever I tell Asuna stuff about you these days but, I guess it's all cuz I still like to think we're these three best friends, just like when we were kids. Well, maybe annoyed isn't the right word. Still, it would be nice if things were like that again."


	14. Career matching?

"So to summarize, within these next two years, you'll be met with a mass of choices. Some might be right for you, some won't. Will you be able to tell? Some of you might, some won't." The teacher began as she walked to the board to write down a web address.

"Even if you have a good idea of what you might want to do with your future, I want you all to take this online quiz. Be sure to answer truthfully. In order to assess your skills and pick out the careers best suited for you, it is necessary you answer these questions as honestly as you can. Remember there's no wrong answer, it's all about you." The teacher reminded the class.

Half of the students didn't really seem to be paying attention as their focus was set on anywhere but the blackboard. Some kids were doodling away into their notebooks, others were looking through messages with their phones in their laps and the rest were at least pretending to listen but their minds were elsewhere. Unlike the rest of the class, Sophie had given her undivided attention to the teacher and was writing down the web address provided by her teacher. She looked down at the address and felt an uneasy feeling residing in her chest. She then looked over to Cho sitting on the other side of class. Cho had been watching the teacher with little interest as she pressed her fist against her cheek.

 _"I feel like most people here have at least some idea of what they want to do, so that I guess that just leaves out me."_ Sophie thought to herself _," What do I wanna do?"_

Once class had been dismissed, Sophie and Cho walked out of school together to go to the bus stop. Cho had started to talk about how tough she thought the latest history assignment was, while Sophie's thoughts were fixated on the career quiz. She and Cho were only in their second year of high-school so they had a little bit of time left to make a decision, but there were so many things to choose from and it wouldn't be long before she really had to finalize her choices.

Sophie glanced over to Cho, who was still lamenting about the history assignment. Cho said that when she was done with high-school, she wanted to either work in or own a bakery. She claimed that nothing really interested her the way baking did. Cho was really sure of what she wanted and while Sophie found it admirable, it also made her a bit jealous.

"So are you going to do the career quiz?" Sophie inquired as the two of them reached the bus stop.

"If it's for marks, might as well." Cho answered with a shrug as she took a seat at the stop," It sucks we gotta write a whole one page reflection of our results. It won't matter what I get though, it's not changing my mind from owning a bakery. What about you? Think you'll actually consider the result you get from the quiz?"

"Maybe." Sophie replied as she dropped her gaze to the ground while Cho gave her a look of question.

"Aren't you gonna be a super famous model when you grow up?" Cho questioned before a thought came to her," Don't tell me you're quitting modeling! You're so good at it and the industries here need-!"

"-I'm not quitting yet, I just...want to see what else out there." Sophie explained in a somewhat hesitant voice," By the way...you still gotta pay me back for that slice of cake I got you from Cafe Rosewood last week."

Cho then looked genuinely surprised, mouth agape before she said," I gotta pay you back? I thought it was a surprise!"

"No? You literally said, 'Sophie, I know you aren't gonna come into my house to study tomorrow if you don't get me a slice of that chocolate cake from Cafe Rosewood'. " Sophie reminded her with an awkward laugh.

"I was joking! I didn't think you'd actually do that, silly!" Cho claimed as she gave Sophie a light push," Ok, I'll pay you back some time next week. Also, did you want to do this career quiz together?"

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea." Sophie answered just before the bus arrived," But we've got a lot of other homework to do for these next few days, maybe we should save it for Friday?"

Cho nodded in agreement and replied with," Sounds good to me."

Asuna had been sitting on a table top that had taken the place of the old table that had been obliterated by the last Defective. This table had been braced up against the school building so Asuna had her back against the wall as she texted someone on her phone. Her mind was worlds away though, for the last few days, she thought about two things. One of those thing was how Tadashi apologized for Hayase's coldness the night of the sleepover. Tadashi claimed that student council work had really bringing the both of them down lately, but Asuna didn't believe that. Hayase knew how to keep composure, his only weakness was a certain bratty red-haired girl. Plus she had been acting extra annoying that night, mainly because she just wanted a reaction, something, anything that didn't make her feel like she was some kind of stranger to him. Not only that, she knew Tadashi had been leaving something out, she could tell by his by tone, but she just couldn't figure out what it was. She wanted to figure it out but, she also didn't want to think about it either.

Asuna then received a text from Tadashi with a link to a website.

 _"I know you've been kinda down these last few days because of how Friday went. I thought maybe you'd might want to take your mind off things so...here's a link to a career matching site."_ The text read.

Asuna narrowed her eyes at the text in disgust. It was as if her own brother didn't even know her by sending her a link to some job searching site. It was undoubtedly a sad attempt to distract her from her own problems and if anything, it felt as if Tadashi had just given her this site link just so he could hear from her what it was it like using the website.

"Maybe student council is planning to promote this site to the other students." Asuna thought aloud. Asuna had little to no idea of what she was going to spend the rest of her life doing and she didn't mind it. She always considered herself a person who lived in the moment but considering the fact that her mind had been so hung up on things that had past, maybe it was worth trying the test out. Lately, most of her friends had been feeling a bit distant, except Reo who was starting to prove that he genuinely wanted to get Sophie's attention. Asuna had been feeling a bit bored in their presence, so she probably wouldn't have enjoyed taking the test with them. But that didn't mean she couldn't take it with a different set of friends.

She then sent a text to Kiriko and Sophie that read," _Guys up for doing a career matching test?"_

A few days later, Kiriko, Asuna ,Sophie and the fairies had assembled to do the career matching test at the library near the school. The girls booked a study room, so they were free to talk at regular volume. They all sat at a circular table in the center of the room with a laptop in front of each person.

"I'm so glad to hear you guys are going to do the career matching test!" Kiriko cheered as she held a stack of textbooks in her hands," I did the exact quiz back in second year and let me just say, it was really...an enriching experience."

 _"So it's boring."_ Asuna and Sophie thought in unison as they watched Kiriko place the textbooks on the table.

Both Sophie and Asuna had the career test page opened up on their laptops and they decided that they were going to begin simultaneously. The website advised the girls to set away half an hour of their time in order to complete the quiz. Both of the girls were staring at the webpage intently, though Sophie appeared more nervous and Asuna looked skeptic.

 _"It's too bad Cho got called in for work today...we were going to do this together."_ Sophie thought to herself as the two waited for the clock to strike five.

 _"I should've brought snacks for today..."_ Asuna thought to herself as she watched the clock in the bottom right corner of her screen," Ok it's five, let's start!"

The two of them got to work while Kiriko began looking through a pair of pages that Sophie and Asuna had given her before they started their tests. Last night, Kiriko had requested the girls to brainstorm names for their team. Asuna only came up with three, but they were all designed well and looked like wordmarks while Sophie provided Kiriko with a full page of suggestions. Kiriko was excited to read through the suggestions, so she began with Asuna's list. Kiriko narrowed her eyes in slight disbelief of what she was reading.

"Playful Pretty Cure, Playing Pretty Cure, Play On! Pretty Cure...Asuna, these all kinda sound the same." Kiriko commented bluntly as she stared at the page.

"It's about quality, not quantity." Asuna reminded her as she took her test.

"I wasn't really critiquing the number of ideas you had..." Kiriko said awkwardly in her defense before she turned her attention to Sophie's page. Sophie had a few good ones, some of them being simple and similar to Asuna's, others being more abstract. Kiriko favored Sophie's thought process over Asuna's but, she didn't find one name on the list that really stood out to her.

"Lastly...I also asked you guys to come up with some suggestions." Kiriko said as she glanced over to Rani and Nova, who were seemingly still working on their list," Is it ok if I take a look at what you have so far?"

"We didn't have too many ideas, you can see for yourself." Rani admitted as she handed Kiriko her page. Kiriko scanned through the list and looked for a name that caught her eye as she read through the suggestions.

"Box of Toys Pretty Cure?" Kiriko read aloud. It had a strange ring to it, but Kiriko liked the sound of it though she felt it needed some further tweaking. Kiriko then decided to take a little break from reading over suggestions and stepped out of the study room to look at the books in the library. Today had been a quiet day for the library and it was only populated by a few people right now. Kiriko walked over to the kids section and looked for some reading material. While the week she just had may have not been a very stressful one, it wasn't often she got to go to the library and reward herself with checking out a new book.

Kiriko looked around the kids section, making sure that no one was around so she could read through a book in peace. The kids section was empty and so, Kiriko took a seat and picked out a picture book with a light pink cover embellished with sparkles. Kiriko started reading the first page and got really fixated on the book and it's illustrations. The drawings displayed on the pages were immersive and made her feel as if she had been inside the book.

Kiriko began to read aloud in a low voice,"Far away there is a kingdom where toys come to life and-"

"-Hey Kiriko! How's it going?" A familiar voice said to her. Kiriko jumped at the sound coming from nowhere and looked up to see Mari standing right before her with a few picture books in hand.

"Hey Mari," Kiriko said as she offered the girl a sheepish smile while closing the book slowly," I was just browsing through the kids section cuz you know, my little siblings love this kinda stuff. What are you up to?"

Mari nodded in understanding and replied with,"I was just picking out some books to read at the daycare my older cousin works at. So far I picked out about three but these two look like they'll be quick reads, so I want to find at least one more. Which book is that?"

"Umm...it is the Lost Kingdom of Toys by Satori Miyazono." Kiriko answered as she read the book title aloud, only then noticing how suspicious the book title sounded.

"Oh, I read that book before! It's such a good one." Mari said in a curt voice," Anyways, maybe I could help you find some books for your siblings?"

Kiriko gave her a quizzical look before remembering the lie she just told Mari and abruptly responded with," I think I got enough to last them for awhile. They usually fall in love with the drawings and just stare at them for awhile anyways."

"I totally get that. Well, I'm going to look for some more books so I'll catch you around!" Mari said as she waved goodbye to Kiriko.

Kiriko waved goodbye back and then slumped in her chair as she looked at the book. She probably would've been trying to figure out why this book sounded like it was about the Laruan Kingdom if she wasn't so hung up on the fact that she just lied on the spot to cover herself. She had never been caught in the kids section of the library and she did wonder from time to time just what she would do if it happen. Well, at least now she knew. Was it a silly reason to form a lie for? Kiriko wasn't sure as she folded her arms on the table and placed her head atop of them.

"Mari's always nice to me and I just flat out lied to her like that." Kiriko said quietly to herself," Well, it doesn't matter, at least Mari wasn't suspicious of me."

 _"Why do I feel like I have to be ashamed of my interests? Why must I feel as if having people see me like this is such a bad thing?"_ Kiriko thought to herself as she pushed the book away," I've always believed that it'd be wrong for me to enjoy stuff like this in front of others, that I would be better off maintaining that image that people have of me. But doing stuff like that limits me in a way. "

Asuna and Sophie had just completed their career matching tests. The two of them were scrolling through their top matches, each with a very different expression on their face. Scrolling down the page, Asuna read out her results aloud.

"Animator, artist, graphic designer, interior decorator, sculptor...I guess I was really meant to be in the creative industry." Asuna remarked with a shrug as she pushed her laptop back.

"Your results sound very...polarized. Are you sure answered honestly?" Sophie asked curiously as she gave Asuna a doubtful look.

"Why, was I supposed to do that?" Asuna asked flatly, with Sophie rolling her eyes in response," What did you get?"

"Let's see here..." Sophie said as she submitted her answers for the results," Oh wow, I could be a marketing strategist, an human resources manager, journalist, public relations specialist..."

"Oh cool." Asuna commented, though she truthfully hadn't ever heard of any of those jobs," I'm getting kinda hungry, wanna go to the grocery store next door and get something to eat?"

"But what about Kiriko?" Sophie questioned as Asuna stood up from her chair, writing something down on a blank page," Shouldn't we let her know?"

"I'm one step ahead of you." Asuna said as she ripped out the page from her notebook and placed it in the center of the table.

The page read _'gone to get food brb'_ in big, bold letters. Sophie read the note and made no comments, simply nodding her head as she read it. She followed Asuna out of the room and the two left the library.

Asuna and Sophie then walked to the grocery store next to the library. The grocery store was definitely a lot more busier than the library, but it wasn't like the grocery store had much to compete with. The girls walked past the aisles and looked at all the options they had. Sophie was picky, she didn't really enjoy the idea of snacking unless her snacks were healthy. Asuna however didn't care about what she was putting in her system and tried weighing out her options of a whole bag of nachos or a box of cookies. As she tried to make a decision, she silently cursed herself for spending a good portion of her own money earlier in the week on stuff she didn't really need. Asuna finally selected the nacho chips and held the big bag around the store as if it were a pillow.

Sophie was still trying to decide on something to eat.

"You looked kinda worried earlier." Asuna stated as Sophie was looking through the produce section," Is everything alright?"

Sophie froze up for a second and looked at Asuna bashfully saying," I just...I was worried about the kind of results I'd get from the quiz."

Sophie settled on a small vegetable platter and started to walk to the juice section.

"You just had to do it for marks right?" Asuna asked as Sophie looked at the juices in the aisle," Were you actually that concerned about your results?"

Sophie kept her gaze on the selection of juices in front of her and said," I guess. I might be a model now but, who's to say I can continue doing this in ten, even five years from now? I like modeling but...I can't be sure of where it will lead to. Plus, I want to try other things and see what else can make me as happy as modeling does."

Asuna nodded and the two fell silent as Sophie tried to decide on a bottle of juice. Sophie picked one that was a strawberry-mango flavour and the two went to the cash register.

"Thanks for listening to me, I appreciate it." Sophie said awkwardly as they stood in line.

"No problem." Asuna responded as she let her gaze drop to the ground," I like talking to you and I think you should give yourself some more credit. I think you're both a good model and a really good role model for your little brothers and sisters."

"Oh, why thank you!" Sophie replied, somewhat surprised Asuna had said that," I like talking to you too and to be honest...I think you're a lot more approachable than Kiriko."

Sophie was expecting Asuna to agree with her right away but Asuna instead had a thoughtful look on her face and chose not to look at Sophie as her mind wandered. Asuna was trying to articulate her thoughts and finally she said,

"Kiriko might be a bit...difficult at times but, you shouldn't be discouraged. We're all teammates now and I think Kiriko's still just warming up to you. She can be kinda intimidating at first, but she means well. And you saw her back there, she's like... a magical nerd."

Sophie nodded in understanding and the two placed their items on the conveyor belt at the cash register.

Meanwhile, Domino and Jack stood at the roof of the library. Domino was proofreading his blueprints for the umpteenth time today and Jack had been watching people enter and exit the library interestedly.

"I like this site, but exactly what do humans do at this place?" Jack questioned as he watched a mother and her daughter exit the library," Is it supposed to be a shop of some sorts? All the people coming in are leaving with some dull books."

Domino narrowed his eyes at Jack with an incredulous look on his face as he said," Jack, it's a _library_."

"I like how you assume I know what that is." Jack responded wryly as he watched a group of young boys no older than six walk into the library, led by a woman who appeared to be a teacher," Books are no fun, what they need is one of our diamonds to lift their spirits."

Jack then looked over to Domino expectantly and asked," Can I?"

"Go ahead." Domino answered and with that, Jack leapt off the roof while conjuring up a set of black diamonds.

Kiriko had just entered the study room and was surprised to find that neither Asuna and Sophie were there. She then noticed the note they left for her. Kiriko read it and shook her head before she took a seat in front of the fairies.

"I hope they bring us something to eat." Kiriko said to Rani, with Rani nodding in response.

All of a sudden, Kiriko and the fairies heard screaming outside of the library, following by the cries of multiple Defectives. Kiriko then collected her PlayPact and ran outside. She exited the library and couldn't believe her eyes when she saw six Defectives made from books standing outside and scaring away all the people who were trying to leave to the library.

Kiriko then held out her PlayPact while saying," Creating a Defective to punish book-lovers and ruin what should've been an afternoon well spent? There's no way I'm letting you get away with that!"

"Pretty Cure, it's playtime!" Kiriko shouted as an array of violet lights appeared from her PlayPact.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced.

Dolly then took a good look at her competition and felt frozen in place with fear. There was way too many of them, and the battle would've only been a lot tougher by herself. Still, Dolly dashed into battle and decided to try and take on at least one of them. Just then, before she jumped to attack, she saw Bubbly and Teddy leap up from behind and attack two of the Defectives. The Defectives staggered forwards and both of the Cures came to Cure Dolly's side.

"I've never seen so many of them in one place." Bubbly remarked as they watched the two Defectives that had been struck rise up again," They're like a mini army."

"We'll be fine, it's nothing we can't handle." Dolly reassured the team as the Defectives came running towards them," There's six of them so that mean we have to fight two of them at a time!"

"Fine by me!" Teddy shouted as she ran ahead of the team and picked out two Defectives to fight. The rest of the team followed suite and soon each Cure was engaging in battle against a pair of Defectives.

Dolly was doing well against her pair of Defectives. She fell into a sort of rhythm where she was able to attack them one after the other. Whenever she knocked down one Defective, she wasted no time in using that chance to attack the other one. Dolly blasted out a small but powerful violet gale from her hands and knocked down one of the Defectives for a few moments. Just before the Defective fell down, she jumped off of it and then combated against the other one while creating those tiny gales of wind in her hands.

Teddy's method of action was a lot more aggressive and quick. Teddy figured she would rather fight them both at the same time, even if it was going to be trickier in doing so. Both of them tried to attack her at the same time while she was in between the two them so she jumped up as high she could and the two Defectives ended up hurting each other.

"Trust me, I'm the last person you'd want to mess with here!" Teddy shouted as a pair of flames appeared in both her hands.

The two Defectives looked up towards her and she held her hands out in front of them while shouting," Pretty Cure, Flame of hope!"

The attack had hit the two Defectives straight on and they both staggered backwards as Teddy descended back to Earth. One of the Defectives remained stander while the other had fallen onto it's feet. Teddy felt proud at the sight and focused on fight against the standing Defective.

Teddy turned her back on the fallen Defective and was getting ready to launch another attack at the other Defective when suddenly Teddy had been picked up and throw into the building of the library. Teddy winced at the pain flowing into her body as she looked ahead and found that the other Defective had recovered it's fall, or rather, chances were it hadn't been injured in the first place.

Bubbly had jumped up onto a streetlight and clasped her hands together before she took a quick deep breath. The two Defectives she had been battling against were running towards her and so she separated her hands and out came a pair of tendrils made from water. She directed them towards the two Defectives but the attack wasn't strong enough to knock either of them down. She furrowed her brows, taking note of the fact that the two were coming closer to her and tried weighing out her options. Feeling as if she didn't have any other choice, she jumped up high into the sky and tried to think from up there.

"Hm...maybe that might work..." Bubbly thought aloud, still high up in the air as she clasped her hands together again to form the water tendrils. The attack was directed down to the Defectives again and it was a lot stronger from up there. The attack had drenched the two Defectives and they needed a few moments to recover from the attack.

Bubbly landed back on the ground and tried to decide her next move before her train of though crashed from seeing Cure Dolly get tossed into a tree right before her eyes.

Dolly shut her eyes and winced at the pain for a moment, saying to herself," It doesn't make any sense. Shouldn't these Defectives be...stronger than this?"

The Defectives were undeniably strong and irritating to Cure Dolly, but somehow it felt as if their levels of power together were on par with just one Defective. Dolly then looked over to the pair of Defectives that she had been fighting against and only noticed then that both Defectives were missing book covers on their backs and appeared to have been ripped in half.

Dolly's lilac eyes widened at the sight as she came to a realization. They weren't fighting six Defectives, they were up against three split in half! Dolly started to feel an adrenaline rush flow within her as she tried to create a plan as quickly as possible. Surely, the best method of action right now would've been to try and somehow detain one of them so that she could focus on them one at a time. It'd definetely be a lot easier to attack just one of them since they only had had the strength of a regular Defective on their own.

Teddy then collided into Dolly after getting thrown by a Defective again. The two Cures fell on the ground, with Teddy having her fall broken by her teammate. Dolly then lifted herself and Teddy off of the ground to explain her theory.

"These Defectives aren't as strong as the others and it's because they've been sliced in half!" Dolly explained in a hurry," So, instead of going against two full-power Defectives, we're really going against a single Defective that's been split in two!"

Teddy nodded quickly to indicate that she understood Dolly's theory before the two of them had nearly been hit by the two Defectives Bubbly was fighting against. The two of them ducked just before they collided with the Defectives. Bubbly looked at them sheepishly and Dolly motioned her to come join them.

Once Bubbly joined them, Dolly explained to her what was going on and said," We need to find a way to separate one half of the Defectives and keep them stationary while we focus on fighting the other half.

Teddy and Bubbly nodded in agreement and the former then said," Maybe my ring made from fire would be enough to keep them in place for a bit?"

Dolly then nodded attentively and replied with," That would be perfect! In the meanwhile, Bubbly and I can fight against the other three. Since they'll will have been split up from their counterparts, they'll be a lot weaker on their own."

"But, do you think we'll be able to go against three of those things together? We were having issues with just two of them..." Bubbly pointed out.

Dolly shook her head and answered quickly with," That's only because it was two against one. If we were to fight them together, that would be like us fighting one and a half Defectives!"

Bubbly nodded slowly, not fully following before the Defectives started to run after them again.

"You guys are about to meet your maker!" Teddy shouted as she jumped up as high as she could," Pretty Cure, flaming ring of hope!"

A ring made from flames encircled around three of the Defectives and the other three were left to fight against Dolly and Bubbly.

"Ready?" Dolly asked with Bubbly nodding firmly in response.

The two of them began to fight against the trio of Defectives. As expected, the Defectives were easier to fight now that Dolly and Bubbly were fighting together. Both Cures had been fighting against one Defective and were taking turns in fighting the the third one when they had a moment to spare. The two Cures were pleased to find that the fight had been going better than they had expected.

Teddy was keeping an eye on the Defectives that were crying loudly trapped in her flaming ring, holding both her hands in front of them so the flame wouldn't get bigger and uncontrollable. Though she had her back turned to the battle, Teddy was well aware that the girls were fighting way harder than before, and she was beginning to wish she didn't get stuck with detaining these Defectives. She sighed impatiently and just then, Jack appeared, staring at her upside down and hanging from the tree branch just above her.

"I can see you wanna fight, it's written all over your face." Jack remarked as his face lifted into a half-smirk," You'd be having way more fun fighting instead of just standing at the sidelines over here playing babysitter."

"Don't you have to be annoying somewhere else?" Teddy asked as she swung a punch in his direction, but he dodged instantaneously and reappeared behind her.

"Listen, it's obvious that you'd much prefer a battle right about now, so how about you go join your friends and I'll keep an eye on these guys, just for you?" Jack offered, though Teddy definitely wasn't buying into his act.

"Why don't you just leave this place and never come back?" Teddy responded in frustration as she turned on her heel and aimed a fireball straight for Jack, but he disappeared again. Just then, she heard the roars of the Defectives behind her grow even louder and her eyes shrunk in fear as she turned out to find that the Defective had been freed.

"Oh great..." Teddy said to herself as she frantically tried to erect another flaming ring.

Dolly and Bubbly had just completed their task of defeating their half of the Defectives when they saw Teddy trying to fight the three Defectives on her own.

Dolly began to run as fast as possibly could to help Teddy out and shouted to Bubbly," C'mon we don't have any time to spare!"

Bubbly then followed after her and Dolly jumped up and positioned both of her arms in front of herself shouting," Pretty Cure, gales of wishes!"

The attack was sent right to the Defectives. It was stronger than Dolly had expected and Teddy was facing difficulties standing her ground.

The Defectives were up in the air and so Bubbly took over from there, and yelled," Pretty Cure, whirlpool of justice!"

The remaining half of the Defectives were slammed into the library building and were rendered immobile.

"Now's our chance!" Dolly shouted, before an idea came to her. She then put her hands on Teddy and Bubbly's shoulders and looked at them both before she said,

"Let's try something a little different."

Both of the Cures caught on quickly and they all stood in profile to the Defectives, holding out their hands.

"Pretty Cure Playtime Party!" The three of them shouted together as the atmosphere around them turned violet, orange and blue. The Defectives were purified as returned to their original forms.

Jack and Domino were still spectating the battle from the library roof, shocked to see that their collaborative plan had been foiled by the Pretty Cure.

"Ugh, these no-good Pretty Cure keep ruining everything! There's no way in hell we can go see Lilith now! Domino, please tell me you've got some kinda plan in mind." Jack griped as he held his head in his hands.

Domino didn't say a word, and Jack then turned around in concern.

"Domino?" Jack repeated as he turned to face him.

Domino wore an unsettlingly tranquil look on his face and had a vacant look in his eye as he reached for the blueprint in his inside pocket and immediately tore it up.

"He's blown a fuse..." Jack said to himself sheepishly before they both vanished to return to Asperity.

"Wow, Dolly you were great back there!" Bubbly exclaimed as she put her hand on Dolly's shoulder," You're a really good leader, you know that right?"

Dolly, who had been a little startled by Bubbly touching her, awkwardly let her gaze fall to the floor and said," Am I really though?"

An awkward silence formed between the three of them for a few moments until Dolly spoke up again.

"I'm indecisive and I'm always scared of making the wrong choice and well, I feel as if I've led you guys on and made you see me as someone I'm not. I...I get so caught up in the fear of being wrong and seen as myself, who I always think just isn't the right version of my self that I should show others. I forget about all the good choices I've made that have led me up to here. I'm really happy I'm friends with you guys but somehow...I don't feel like I've been um, real with you, you know?"

Teddy and Bubbly exchanged glances and then Teddy said," You're decisive when it matters most and you might think that we probably see you the way other kids at school but, that isn't true."

Dolly then looked up and gave the girls a look of surprise, unsure of what to say.

"Obviously we don't know you inside out but we know you better you think." Teddy pointed out with Bubbly nodding in response," Once we joined the team, I think we all got to get to know each other better and figure out that we're more than what we seem to be. We don't see you the way everyone else does, we get to see you all determined and excited and be yourself. Same goes for you Sophie."

Dolly held her hands over her mouth in shock and said, "You guys don't think I'm distant or anything like that?"

Bubbly then spoke up and said," Sometimes...there have been moments where I felt as if you were doing this whole Pretty Cure stuff because you had no other choice. It didn't really seem like something you would want to do but now I can tell...being a Pretty Cure means a lot you and all of us for that matter!"

"Yeah that's true, we all probably perceived each other as someone totally different from our actual selves. It feels almost rewarding now to know how mistaken." Dolly admitted before her eyes widened as a thought came to her," There's something special, something worth treasuring inside each of us, like a chest of toys...that should be our team name! Toychest Pretty Cure!"

"That sounds great!" Bubbly commented as she gave applause as Teddy nodded in response.

"Then it's settled, we're now the Toychest Pretty Cure!" Dolly beamed in a cheerful tone.


	15. A super-fun sleepover!

Kiriko, Asuna and Sophie were all sitting in the study room, gathered around the table in silence as Mari stood up, pacing for a few moments. The tension in the room was a thick as a cloud, but it was cleared the most tense individuals in the room were Rani and Nova. Asuna and Sophie had their eyes fixated on the walls, pretending to be interested in their surroundings while Kiriko just stared down at the desktop. All Kiriko could think about was the fact that they had just been exposed.

 _After the girls had decided on their team name, they reversed their transformation and standing a few feet away from them was Mari with a grocery bag in hand. Once the girls noticed Mari was there, they were at a loss of words. But, strangely enough, Mari didn't appear as shocked as they all expected._

 _Kiriko then sputtered out," We're just-!"_

" _-You're the new Pretty Cure, right?" Mari asked, as a serious look that seemed out of place appeared on her face._

"So the truth is...the reason I knew about the whole Pretty Cure thing is because..." Mari began anxiously as she continued to pace about,"...My mother is from the Laruan Kingdom, she told me stories about Cure Cheer when I was a kid."

Everyone in the room looked at Mari in shock and so, Mari continued her explanation hastily.

"It's only my mom from the Laruan Kingdom, my dad is normal and from earth. So, I don't get the cool pastel hair and I don't have very powerful magic. I've never even been to the Laruan Kingdom. I'm just normal, earthling Mari Miyazono."

Mari then sat down in the empty seat next to Kiriko and said," I'm not going to tell anyone your secret. Something's going on in this city and it's up to you guys to save the day, right?"

Kiriko nodded, though now she wasn't sure if Mari's question was rhetorical or not.

"I promise to not to say a word about this. I understand you guys would want to keep this a private thing, so you guys can count on me to keep this a secret." Mari concluded with a resolute expression on her face.

The girls fell silent and not a word was said by anyone of them for a few moments.

Finally, Kiriko broke the silence, bowed her head before Mari with her hands clasped and said loudly," Thank you so much Mari!"

Soon after, Mari left the girls and returned to her usual self as she cheerfully said to the girls," Well, I hope you guys have a good weekend! And I hope you enjoy that book Kiriko, I'll see you guys around!"

Once Mari left, the girls then exchanged expressions and it appeared that Kiriko was the only one who appeared to be relaxed in the room.

When Kiriko noticed the girls skeptic expressions, she then addressed their concerns saying," We can trust her, guys. Mari is like, one of the nicest people I know. She understands the need to keep this stuff confidential, and since her mom's from the Laruan Kingdom, we don't even have to worry about her asking us for more information!"

Asuna shrugged and said," If you can trust her, then we may as well too."

Kiriko smiled at the response and then an idea came to her," Since we're all a bit more comfortable with each other, maybe we should have a sleepover!"

"To discuss Pretty Cure stuff?" Rani asked inquisitively.

Kiriko shook her head and then hesitantly said," Well, we can do that but I was thinking like just spending time together and hanging out like normal girls do."

Kiriko then awkwardly placed her gaze at the floor and sheepishly confessed," I've never really had been to a sleepover before and they seem like a lot of fun."

Sophie's eyes then widened in astonished as she asked Kiriko," You've never been to a sleepover?!"

Sophie then turned to Asuna to see if she could believe this, but Asuna's attention was lost to them and instead she was doodling away in her notebook. Kiriko then laughed sheepishly as she fidgeted with her hands.

"Not really, no..." Kiriko admitted as she stood up and started to gather her things off the table," When I was younger, my parents didn't let me go to my classmates' houses but they trust me to have my own sleepovers now that I'm older, it's just that I've never been comfortable enough to invite someone to my place."

Sophie then stood up from her seat and declared," We're going to make sure you have the best first sleepover ever, and that's a promise! Right Asuna?"

Asuna didn't look up from her drawing and simply responded with," Yeah sure."

Kiriko was unsure of what to say as she looked at Sophie and Asuna. She was surprised and grateful that her friends had been so concerned. It was refreshing in a way and all she could give them was an awkward smile as she said," Thanks guys, I didn't really think you'd care so much but I appreciate it."

The girls then decided one week from today they would have their sleepover at Kiriko's house. Kiriko was excited but at the same time, kinda nervous. She had little to no idea what was considered a necessity for sleepovers so after her student council meeting the day before, she went to the grocery store in search of snacks to have at the sleepover. After doing some thorough research on what was considered a must-have for sleepovers, Kiriko had then compiled a long and detail list of snacks to have.

She walked into the snacks aisle, and after she noticed she was all by herself, Rani then appeared out of her bag. Kiriko didn't even notice as she was too busy deciding on which bags on chips to buy for the sleepover.

"These two are the same flavour, but they feature different textures, therefore they bring a very different experience from each other." Kiriko surmised as she looked at the puffed up chips and nachos, both cheese-flavoured, in her hands. Kiriko then decided to take the nacho chips and put the other bag away.

"Are Nova and I invited to the sleepover?" Rani asked as Kiriko tried to decide on a second bag of chips, with Kiriko nodding in response.

"Well obviously, you guys wouldn't have anywhere else to go." Kiriko pointed out as she picked out a second bag and placed it in her shopping basket," I hope this goes well. I've seen stuff like this happen on TV and it kinda looks like fun."

Rani nodded in understanding and then Kiriko turned out and tried to pick out two soft drink bottles as she said,"I didn't want to tell Asuna and Sophie this, but when I was younger, I didn't actually get invited to many sleepovers. My elementary school was small and sometimes I would be asked by some girls out of obligation, but I usually got left out."

Kiriko then picked up a two liter of cream soda and cola and went to the candy aisle. She looked through the aisle but nothing really caught her eye. A lot of the candy available in the aisle were just items Kiriko deemed as inedible due to their sugar content. While she was a lover of sweets, she considered herself a girl of slightly more refined tastes and didn't usually buy the more cloying sweets in the grocery store. But, Kiriko caved in thinking that Asuna and Sophie might appreciate it so she bought a box of sour watermelon gummies and gummy worms. Before she left the aisles, she then noticed a box of chocolate covered almonds and immediately picked them up.

Once Kiriko paid for her things, she left the store and started to place the smaller items she purchased into her backpack.

"I think I should start carrying an extra bag around to carry you in, Rani. Would you like that?" Kiriko asked as she began to put away the boxes of candy in her bag.

Rani, who was currently sitting on the bench where Kiriko was rearranging her bag, nodded in response and said," Can my bag be light blue? It's my favourite colour."

Kiriko nodded as she was putting items away but then, she froze up for a moment. She started to search through her bag aggressively and then she started to rip things out from her bag before she shouted in a panicked tone,  
"Where the hell is my Math textbook?!"

Kiriko then tried to retrace her steps mentally and then remembered that she left it in the student council room. She then groaned and then dialed up a number.

"Yeah, I see it." Hayase said a few minutes later as he stepped into the class room," Don't worry about it, I've been here at the gym with Tadashi since the meeting was adjourned. I'll just meet you inside the class room ok?"

Hayase then hung up on Kiriko and sat on the teacher's desk in the class room, sighing quietly before he took the other call he had off hold.

 _"Talking to your girlfriend?"_ The voice on the other side of the call jeered _," Nice to see you've got those priorities of yours straight!"_

Hayase rolled his eyes and then responded in irritation with," She isn't my girlfriend! She's just a friend who happens to be a girl..."

 _"Alright, fine. But remember you can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me."_ The other person on the line said," _Anyways, so you have seen those girls in the frilly dresses around town right? People from back home are posting these blurry as hell pics like they're some kinda cryptid, thinking what I'm thinking?"_

Hayase took a deep breath and began briskly,"I've got no clue. But-"

Just then, the door was swung open and Kiriko stood in the door way, looking a bit exhausted as she heaved in her breaths. She offered Hayase a weak smile and walked over to him.

Hayase put the call on hold again and then held out the textbook to Kiriko, taking note of the large bags in her hands as he asked," Having a party?"

Kiriko then laughed awkwardly and set her bags down on the floor as she answered with," Just throwing a sleepover tomorrow night with some friends. Thanks again for staying back so I could get my book."

Hayase nodded in response and the two then walked out of the classroom. A somewhat awkward silence fell over them for a few moments, but this time Hayase was quick in his attempt to fill the silence.

"Do you need help with the bags?" Hayase offered as Kiriko awkwardly tried to hoist one of the bags around her shoulders. Kiriko simply shook her head.

"I'll be ok." Kiriko reassured with firm nod as she walked a bit faster to further prove her point," Was I interrupting something earlier? It sounded like you were on call with someone."

"Oh, that was just my brother." Hayase replied in dismissal, but Kiriko looked rather guilty now," It's fine, he was being annoying anyways."

The two of them reached the front of the school building and parted ways shortly after.

Kiriko and Rani were now all alone on the walk back home.

"So Kiriko, what makes you think that having a sleepover will help you and the girls become closer?" Rani asked in a genuinely curious tone.

The question may have sounded mean, but Kiriko knew Rani meant no harm in asking so she responded patiently with,"Sleepovers are a good way to get to know others here on Earth. You have them with friends and you get to know them a bit better through spending the night with them."

"So what exactly do you do during a sleepover?" Rani inquired.

"Um...lots of things, we could watch movies, listen to music, bake treats..." Kiriko listed off, as she adverted her gaze from Rani," I don't really know everything that's supposed to happen, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow!"

The next day, the girls were all assembled at Kiriko's house after school. The three of them stood at her doorstep while Kiriko rummaged her bag for her keys. Asuna and Sophie were taking in their surroundings as Kiriko opened the door to her house. The girls looked around Kiriko's house as they stepped inside, as both of them were somewhat curious to know what Kiriko's house was like after all this time. It was normal, that was for certain, with it's plain furniture arranged in the living room and a minimal amount of decorations in the house. Something did feel as if it was missing though, but the girls just couldn't figure out what it was.

Sophie was still trying to determine what it was when Asuna then asked out of nowhere," Are we home alone?"

"Yeah, my parents won't come home until later tonight." Kiriko said in a curt voice as she led the girls upstairs.

As the group walked upstairs, Kiriko felt her stomach begin to tie itself up in knots as they came closer to her room. Kiriko made the decision earlier that she wasn't going to hide or change the look of her bedroom just for the sleepover. She said that she wanted to be real with them, so she figured this was the first step in doing so. But then she began to worry that her bedroom might've been more embarrassing than she realized. With her pastel purple walls and stuffed animals all over her bed, Kiriko was beginning to wonder whether or not this was a good idea. She held back on a sigh as she opened up her bedroom door.

"This is my bedroom." Kiriko announced as she ushered the girls into the room _," I'm probably just overthinking things as usual, they probably won't even care that much-"_

"Aw Kiriko your room is absolutely adorable!" Sophie remarked as she looked around the room, causing Kiriko to flush red in response.

The girls inspected Kiriko's room, which was the last thing she wanted but they weren't being as critical as she expected. Asuna took a seat on Kiriko's bed and Kiriko watched as the two of them continue to survey her room. She remained quiet and waited to hear any other comments from them.

"In a way...it's not all that surprising your room looks like this." Asuna admitted as she held one of Kiriko's throw pillows.

"Right? It's totally fitting for the 'Princess of Wishes!' " Sophia exclaimed, causing Kiriko to turn red again.

"I'm glad you guys like it..." Kiriko said bashfully as she took a seat on her bed next to Asuna," So what would you guys like to do? I've got snacks downstairs, we could watch a movie, play some board games, it's up to you guys."

Sophie was thinking about which option seemed best out of all the ones Kiriko suggested, though Asuna seemed to have her eyes set on something at Kiriko's desk.

Kiriko then turned around upon noticing Asuna staring off into the distance and then asked," Is there something you had in mind Asuna?"

"It's gonna sound a little cheesy but..." Asuna began hesitantly as her gaze shifted to the side," But what if we do makeovers?"

"I think that sounds like fun!" Sophie commented excitedly before turning to Kiriko," What do you say?"

Kiriko pondered it and then thought to herself," This would be a good chance to show them at good at something besides being organized."

"Sure why not?" Kiriko answered as she stood up and took her makeup bag off of her desk. It was small in size and was a sparkly ivory white with lilac stripes. Kiriko then opened it up and took out an eyeshadow palette, and then another eyeshadow and then another one and one more after that. Asuna and Sophie were quite impressed as they picked up and looked at the palettes they gravitated to. Kiriko then pulled out some lipsticks, brushes and liners; even she was impressed by how large her makeup collection had grown over the last year, considering she seldom used this stuff. Most of it had been received as presents anyways.

"Whoa, was this the limited edition palette from last year?" Asuna asked as she opened up a square shiny red palette," And it hasn't even been used!"

Kiriko shrugged and replied with," What can I say? Red isn't my colour."

Kiriko watched as Asuna and Sophie began to dig through her makeup bag, both of them surprised at all the good stuff they found. She felt a little accomplished to have gained their attention successfully, but now was her chance to really show off.

"As a matter of fact, I think this palette would look really nice on you." Kiriko began as she took the palette out of Asuna's hands and equipped herself with a handful of brushes," Allow me to demonstrate."

Kiriko then led Asuna and Sophie over to her desk and motioned Asuna to take a seat. Asuna did as instructed and curiously glanced at Kiriko, who was cleaning off her brushes she hadn't touched in weeks with a tissue.

"I'll give Asuna a really nice makeover, complete with winged tips and red lips." Kiriko reassured with a wink before she got to work on Asuna's face,"Normally, I'd use a primer on the eyelids to make the look last throughout the day, but since we won't be doing much tonight, we'll just leave that out."

Kiriko dusted a medium orange-red eyeshadow onto Asuna's eyelids for the base colour. Kiriko was in truth sorta rusty and she had never actually done someone's else makeup, but she wasn't planning to give up now. Plus, Kiriko had entertained the thought of doing Asuna's makeup before, considering the red-haired girl was still getting the hang of make-up. It was clear she had her own distinct style with her gold, shimmery eyeshadow mixed with some darker copper colour paired with very dark eyeliner that seldom sported wings and some lip gloss on occasion. Kiriko was getting excited as she worked on Asuna's look and patiently blended two colours on Asuna's eyelids.

Once Kiriko was finished with Asuna's look, she showed off the completed makeover to Sophie, Rani and Nova. The girls were impressed as Asuna looked like a completely different person. Asuna's gaze awkwardly shifted to the floor as she felt herself grow uncomfortable with all these eyes on her. Kiriko then handed Asuna a mirror so she could get a look for herself.

"Interesting..." Asuna commented, nodding her head as she stared at her reflection, in slight disbelief of what she was seeing.

"Me next! Me next!" Nova shouted in excitement, though Kiriko wasn't sure how she was going to pull off a makeover on her.

Sophie then noticed Rani appeared to be less interested in the makeovers and was looking down at the floor. Sophie then leaned down next to her to see if she was ok.

"Is everything alright?" Sophie asked her, with Rani shaking her head in response.

Rani returned her gaze to the girls hesitantly, becoming less willing to speak as she found everyone's eyes on her.

"I always thought it would be nice to be human..." Rani admitted briskly as she stroked one of her ears," When I was little, I idolized Cure Cheer, and I always wanted to be like her. But I'm only a fairy, I don't get to do all the fighting or become a hero. That's what you guys are for!"

It was an inevitable thing that had been on Rani's mind, but the thought of it became even more frequent ever since she and Nova arrived on Earth. There were any other fairies to distract her from thinking about the inability she shared with all of the other kingdom's fairies to become human. And while it was nice to meet girls and be the one to find the Pretty Cure, Rani still couldn't help feeling so distant from her childhood dream.

"Rani, you're just important to the team as we are." Kiriko reassured as she sat down next to her," We wouldn't have even met each other if it wasn't for you and Nova."

Asuna nodded in agreement and Sophie quickly added," Yeah, you guys are like honorary members to the team! Wait, that sorta makes your status sound less legitimate. No, actually...you two were the very first members of the team, the originals of Toychest Pretty Cure!"

"You might not get a chance to fight, but...you guys have a better purpose. You're the ones the Queen and King called upon to find us right? That's practically asking you two to help save the world." Asuna pointed out with Kiriko and Sophie nodding in response.

Rani looked surprised with her eyes open widely, staring at Asuna curiously. She never really did see it like that, but thinking about it that way did make her feel a little bit better.

"Speaking of Pretty Cure, I didn't want to bring it up so early into the sleepover but, are we expecting any more Cures?" Sophie asked the fairies curiously.

Rani and Nova then exchanged glances, unsure of exactly what to say in response to the girls with Nova saying," The thing is...we're not sure. I believe we have our whole team assembled though."

"What makes you think that?" Kiriko asked in an inquisitive voice as the girls started to gather around in a circle.

"That's because three is the magic number!" Nova proclaimed as she stood up, but then Asuna swiftly grabbed hold of her and gave her a noogie as a way of scolding her.

"Answer the question properly." Asuna chided just before she let go of Nova.

"It's true! In the kingdom, we believe good things come in three. I think that's because the kingdom was formed by three people." Rani explained slowly," Centuries ago, our realm was hungry for magic and people of our home would do anything they could to make their magic as strong as possible, even if it meant they had to steal magic from other people. There were three people who felt that this needed to come to an end. There was a king of a medium-sized nation amongst them, a priestess, and a mage. The three of them soon found out that the reason people of the realm had evolved into such power-hungry felons was because they were being controlled. The one controlling them was a vile, horrendous entity that went by the name of Nixe. Together, the three of them put an end to Nixe, but unfortunately, it hadn't been enough to stop some of the people who hadn't even been controlled when stealing the magic of others. And so, the mage formed a plan. The mage put a powerful type of spell on the land that prevented people from taking the magic of others, but doing so resulted in the mage's demise. So, the king and priestess created a new tradition as well as a new kingdom. From there on, there was just the Laruan Kingdom and it became customary to divide your Patchwork Heart into two and give the other half to your most treasured toy. "

"And the rest is history." Nova added briefly after a few moments had passed," So yeah, we aren't expecting any other Cures but, we could be wrong."

The girls fell silent for a few moments, unsure of exactly how to respond to that. At this point, the girls were comfortable with the size of their team, but they weren't exactly against any new additions. They all felt as if they could probably use another member on the team, but they didn't have any ideas on who would make a good candidate.

Just then, the girls heard what sounded like a door opening from downstairs. Immediately, all eyes fell to Kiriko who seemed just as confused as the rest of them.

"I guess my parents came home early." Kiriko surmised before she stood up and went to go check for herself.

Once Kiriko was out of the room, Sophie took out her phone and went through emails quietly, reminding Asuna of a certain question she had been meaning to ask Sophie.

In a hesitant voice, Asuna then asked," So Sophie, did you ever get around to texting Reo back?"

"Oh, your friend right? I actually didn't get around to that but, the other day I called him up to apologize and then we started talking for a half an hour." Sophie explained cheerfully," He seems really nice!"

 _"That smitten bastard! I can't believe he didn't tell me!"_ Asuna thought to herself, before remembering that Reo didn't like phone calls," Wait, why did you call him?"

"I don't really like texting because I tend to forget responding back, I find calls and video chats much easier since they're in the moment, you know?" Sophie answered, with Asuna nodding in response, pretending that she related but was feeling the exact opposite.

Kiriko stood the head of the stairs and found her parents standing near the front door, taking off their coats and putting them away in the closet. Kiriko's mom saw her first and motioned her to come downstairs to give her a hug. Kiriko's mom, Konomi, hugged her tightly and adjusted her glasses once they broke the hug.

"I'd like to meet your friends, can you bring them downstairs?" Konomi asked as she gave Kiriko a soft smile.

Kiriko nodded, seeming a bit tense now and ran upstairs to introduce Asuna and Sophie to her parents. Kiriko returned after a few moments with Asuna and Sophie right behind her. Asuna seemed a bit shy as she partially hid behind Kiriko and looked down at her feet while Sophie was more successful in hiding her discomfort as she smiled brightly to Kiriko's parents.

"So mom, dad, these are my friends Asuna and Sophie..." Kiriko introduced as she awkwardly gestured in their direction.

"Nice to meet you..." Asuna mumbled as her gaze met Konomi's and her mouth lifted into a rather forced smile.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you guys." Sophie greeted in an upbeat voice, her genuine smile still residing on her face as she waved to Kiriko's parents.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you girls after all this time...Kiriko has mentioned you two quite a few times now." Konomi remarked, while Kiriko's gaze drifted to the floor, wishing she was invisible right now," I'll go order a pizza for your sleepover right now, does that sound alright?"

Kiriko nodded and the girls returned back upstairs after they decided on what kind of pizza they wanted to get. From there, Kiriko got awfully quiet while Asuna and Sophie geared their conversation towards their tastes in music. She was listening a little bit, but her mind was set on her parents' interactions with the girls. Kiriko's parents had heard of Sophie before, because of her modeling work. Well, in truth, they simply recognized a photo of her that Kiriko had presented to them. Bottom line was Sophie appeared to be successful to them. Asuna however was only lucky because her older brother was smart and studious and thus Kiriko's parents automatically assumed that Asuna was just like him. It things were different, then chances were that Kiriko's parents would've looked down on her for bringing them to her house.

 _"I shouldn't be worrying about what could've happen. I oughta be grateful that my parents like them."_ Kiriko thought to herself,as she watched Asuna and Sophie have a dispute over which of the two songs Asuna listed off was better.

Elsewhere, Bounce was taking refuge on top of a high set of monkey-bars in the nearby playground. She laid on the bars and took a good look at the starry sky above her. With her sleeveless hoodie and black beanie hung over the bars, it appeared as if she claimed this spot as her own. Nobody was at the park, considering it far too late for any of the usual park's guests to pay a visit. The park was awfully quiet though, but Bounce enjoyed the silent peace even if she was well aware that it wouldn't last long.

"You know I can see you right?" Bounce asked aloud, causing a nearby cat to step away from its hiding place," You're a black cat trying to disguise yourself under a midnight blue sky."

The cat of course had no idea what she was saying and stared at her blankly.

"Even if you are just a dumb cat, you're still better company than everyone at Asperity." Bounce declared as she heaved in a deep sigh," I know they're family but...they keep treating me like I'm some kinda burden."

Bounce then stood up and jumped off the monkey-bars, standing right in front of the cat saying," Well, today I'm going to try and prove them wrong, and if I can't do that by tonight, I'll just take you home instead!"

The girls were eating their pizza in the living room, with a movie playing in the background on Kiriko's TV. The only people in the room who seemed to be paying attention to the film were Sophie and Rani. Kiriko's parents had gone upstairs to their office space to work on some stuff so the girls had the whole floor to themselves.

"Your parents are nicer than I expected." Asuna remarked as she dipped her pizza into a packet of garlic dipping sauce. She offered the packet to Kiriko, but after Kiriko noticed that Asuna had been double-dipping, she was no longer interested in the garlic dipping sauce.

"Yeah, they're not bad..." Kiriko said stiffly as she started to pick off some of the toppings on her slice.

Suddenly, the girls heard the cries of a Defective from outside. Without hesitation, the three of them dashed outside and discovered a Defective with a playground carousel on top of it's head standing out in the street with Bounce sitting on it's center point.

It wasn't long until Bounce noticed the three of them standing there, watching her and the Defective march through the street. Bounce didn't seem displeased in the slightest and simply waved to the girls.

"Fancy meeting you here in these...interesting parts of town." Bounce remarked as she jumped off the Defective," I doubt you three will be able to put up a fight against this Defective!"

Kiriko seemed slightly annoyed about the comment Bounce made about her neighborhood, but brushed it off, holding her PlayPact up high, with the girls following suite as they all shouted,

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

A large array of lights appeared out from their PlayPacts and enveloped the three of them, leaving the Pretty Cure in their place once the light dissipated.

"The princess of wishes," Cure Dolly!" Dolly announced.

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!" Teddy announced.

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!" Bubbly announced.

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

"Lame." Bounce commented flatly," Defective, go after them and don't hold back!"

The Defective did as instructed and chased after the Cures.

Cure Dolly then started running in the opposite direction and the Cures followed after her, though neither of them had a clue as to where she was going.

"We really should try and keep it away from the main road, it could serve as inconvenience to people passing by!" Dolly advised her teammates, who only offered her incredulous expressions in response.

"You're actually worried about something like that right now?" Teddy questioned in disbelief," We've fought at your place before!"

"I know but I want to avoid that!" Dolly explained in her defense before she skidded to a stop in front of a play ground," This will work perfectly!"

"It's also probably the place where the Defective came from." Bubbly pointed out before the three of them began to engage in battle.

Dolly was the first to try and spar with the Defective. She jumped up as high as she could and tried to land an attack on it. The Defective dodged and then caught her by the bow on her back, but Dolly managed to pull herself free from it's grip. She then leapt up and landed on the top of the carousel, but doing so didn't bring her any advantage as the Defective then suddenly spun the carousel around. Dolly found herself sitting between two of the bars, holding on for dear life as it spun around.

"I can't do this much longer!" Dolly wailed as she continued to spin around. Unwillingly, she let go of the carousel, but luckily, Bubbly caught her as she descended back to the ground.

"So I guess that means we'd better not hop on that carousel." Bubbly duly noted before she let go of of Dolly, who was still trying to regain balance, and rushed towards the Defective.

Bubbly and Teddy then took their turn at fighting against the Defective. Teddy summoned up a pair of flaming spheres in her hands and began to shoot them towards the Defective, while Bubbly tried to engage in close-combat with it. It was easier said than done trying to fight against a Defective that seemed to possess no weaknesses. The Cures fought hard against it, but they felt as if they weren't getting anywhere with fighting against the Defective.

Bubbly and Teddy were taking a moment to catch their breath, when Dolly dashed up towards the Defective and shot out a small gale of wind before herself, jumping on top of it and trying to land a few punches onto it, hoping the gale of wind would've increased her velocity.

It worked to some avail, and moments after, Teddy and Bubbly joined her again in battle.

Bounce was watching the girls fight with little interest, feeling as if she had witnessed this scene about a hundred times. It was beginning to feel like an endless cycle of watching these Cures get near to defeat, only to turn this around and emerge victorious. What Bounce simply couldn't comprehend was why they kept doing this to themselves. Sure, despite the fact that they have access to great amounts of powers, these Pretty Cure were still human. Humans that would only get hurt, get beaten to a pulp and still recklessly put their lives on the line for no clear reason. Bounce had to give them some credit, most of the humans she knew were weak both physically and mentally and while it was nice to see humans who were the exact opposite, it was also somewhat irritating.

These Cures would fight until they couldn't move an inch and yet they kept going at it, they just didn't know when to quit and it almost made Bounce pity them.

Dolly jumped and was suddenly caught and tossed into the slide in the park.

"Your act is getting stale!" Bounce shouted as Dolly struggled to get up from the slide," All you girls do is continue to fight with no reward! How the hell can you people keep doing this when there's nothing in it for you?"

"Have you ever heard of doing something for the sake of others?" Dolly asked, her patience wearing thin as she lifted herself off of the slide," If you jerks are just going to keep making these stupid Defectives, then what other choice do we have?"

Bounce rolled her eyes and shook her head saying," You can literally just walk away and leave! Nobody's forcing you to stay!"

"Nobody has to." Teddy responded, as she started to walk over towards Dolly," If anything, you guys should be the ones having your actions questioned."

A smile then formed on Bounce's lips before she earnestly rubbed her head as she said," Maybe so, but...it's not like you guys need all those details-"

Just then, a sphere made from fire was thrown straight towards Bounce, but luckily for her, she dodged just in time. Though she wasn't pleased to see that she had been interrupted.

"Are you trying to pick a fight, you brat?" Bounce questioned impatiently as she glared at Teddy.

"So what if I am? You gonna do something about it?" Teddy inquired, appearing quite gallant as she formed another set of fireballs in her hands.

Dolly didn't appear to be very enthusiastic as she wore a look of disapproval on her face while Teddy attempted to engage in battle. They had more pressing issues, but of course, Teddy just had to pick a fight with someone who annoyed her. Dolly figured there was no convincing her otherwise at this point and turned her attention over towards Bubbly, who was now fighting the Defective single-handedly.

The Defective created a powerful wind as it spun the carousel around, leaving Bubbly unable to come close to it. Bubbly was blown far from the Defective and landed on her feet, trying to plan her next move.

"Bubbly, are you trying to plan a strategy?" Dolly asked in an unusually excited voice as she ran over to her teammate.

Bubbly nodded and the two of them huddled close. It appeared that Bubbly was at wit's end with this Defective. Bubbly had been fighting tirelessly against the Defective,, but without any weak points the match was proving itself to be much tougher than expected.

"I can't figure out what would work against this Defective, and I can't even come near to it because of that darn carousel!" Bubbly lamented.

Dolly nodded in understanding and looked around the playground to see if there was anything here that could work to their advantage. Dolly then noticed a hole dug up on the farther side of the park, most likely for drainage purposes. And not only that, she also saw another hole closer to them.

"I got an idea." Dolly stated before she whispered into Bubbly's ear. Bubbly nodded in response and so, Dolly ran towards the Defective.

Dolly began to fight against the Defective to the best of her abilities. The Defective kept trying to blow her away but it didn't stop her from fighting back.

"Let's see who's wind is stronger!" Dolly shouted as she held her hands up high," Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"

The two were evenly matched as they blasted their wind against each other. Dolly wore a determined look on her face, with her gaze focused on where the Defective was standing.

"Just a little bit more...!" Dolly said to herself persistently as she kept her arms stretched out.

The Defective was pushed back slightly, with the hole between its legs.

"Now Bubbly!" Dolly shouted.

Bubbly nodded and quickly she placed both her hands above the hole she was standing in front of.

"Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!" Bubbly yelled out. The attack rushed through the hole and resurfaced through the farther hole and hit the Defective straight on.

The Defective was up in the air for a few moments and then crashed onto the ground. Dolly and Bubbly then made use of this opportunity and fought against the Defective until it could no longer move.

Dolly and Bubbly were just about to deliver the finishing blow, but suddenly the Defective picked up Cure Dolly and placed her on top of the carousel and tied her to one of the bars with the bow on her back.

"Hey, you're playing dirty!" Dolly hollered as she tried to undo the knot on her bow.

"Cure Dolly!" Bubbly shouted as she watched Dolly try to break free. Bubbly knew it was up to her now to save the day, but what else could she do? She then figure out what to do as she reached for her PlayPact and held it in front of herself.

"Let's play pretend!" Bubbly shouted as held her PlayPact up high. A violent, unrelenting wind emerged out from it and was heading straight for the Defective.

Dolly had managed to free herself by ripping the bow off of her dress when she saw the whirlwind heading for her and the Defective. Dolly's pupils had shrunk to pinpricks as she watched the whirlwind.

"That's amazing..." Dolly remarked in awe before she jumped off of the Defective.

The Defective had been defeated and all that was left was to purify it. Dolly stood a few feet away from the Defective while Bubbly ran closer and stopped right in front of the Defective.

"I got this!" Bubbly reassured as she held both of her hands out, " Pretty Cure, Justice Allure!"

The atmosphere around them turned yellow and blue and moments later, the Defective was purified, causing it to revert into it's original form.

Bounce had been caught a ring of flames by Teddy, who had been covered in scratches and bruises. Teddy rubbed her shoulder tenderly as she walked closer to the ring that held Bounce. Bounce didn't seem scared though, only intrigued as she tried to figure out what Teddy was going to do next.

"You guys have done nothing but make others miserable for no good reason and for that, I'm not going to let you get away with this any longer." Teddy declared as she stood in front of Bounce," After tonight, Asperity's going to have one less commander."

Bounce only snickered at the idea and then said," You really think you can stop me all on your own? You're real funny, Cure Teddy. Unfortunately for you, I wasn't even trying today. How about we try this again next time?"

Bounce then vanished all of a sudden and Teddy was left feeling rather frustrated as she watched her ring of flames burn without purpose.

Later, the girls returned to their sleepover and were currently in Kiriko's bedroom chatting louder than before.

"So guys, now that we all have gotten pretty comfortable with each other, the obligatory sleepover question needs to asked!" Sophie exclaimed excitedly, resulting in Kiriko and Asuna to exchange glances before looking at her in question.

All eyes were on Sophie and finally she asked," Who are you guys' crushes?"

Kiriko clamped her mouth shut to avoid to avoid laughter as she turned to the side, while Asuna had a more unimpressed expression on her face.

"Why are you asking that? You don't go to our school, so you wouldn't even know who we're talking about." Asuna pointed out as she narrowed her eyes at Sophie.

"Well you can at least tell me about them!" Sophie reasoned as she shook Asuna," I bet you're holding out on us!"

Kiriko then looked at the group, now begging the resolute Asuna to confess as she thought to herself _," Sophie's right, we have gotten a lot closer. I don't think I'd ever believe it if I was told months ago that I'd have a popular girl, a model and a pair of talking animals that look like plush toys in my room. It makes me feel rejuvenated knowing that I have them all by my side."_


	16. We're all ready to play!

Kiriko took one final look at the large building in front of her before she left this place for good. The term for her cram school was over and for the first time in nearly two years, she had no plans in going back. Kiriko had found herself talking herself out of her decision a few times, but she knew this would ultimately benefit her. Kiriko turned away and started walking to the bus stop. On her way there, she saw her now former classmates, Aya and Wakame sitting at a bench with a bag of from a fast food restaurant between. Kiriko was surprised the girl's were still here, considering the girl's were one of the first to finish their exam. But she was more surprised to see the two of them waving and gesturing for her to come sit with them.

Kiriko felt like she had no other choice and sat with the girls, greeting them awkwardly before she took a seat.

"Hey, you're Kiriko right?" Aya asked with Kiriko nodding in response," That exam was so dumb, we didn't even go through any of that stuff on the last two pages."

Wakame nodded and commented with," I think he was like trying to be sneaky and think none of us would've noticed he shoved all that other stuff in there."

Kiriko nodded in a tense manner and responded with, "Yeah that wasn't very fair of him, hopefully he doesn't pull something like that next term for you guys."

Aya and Wakame snickered at Kiriko's comment, with the former saying," We're not coming back for next term, we got other things to do."

Kiriko's eyes widened in surprise. Most of the students in her class were very devoted to their studies, so they weren't interested in the thought of leaving cram school in favor of other extracurriculars. But then again, despite the fact that Aya and Wakame were a lot noisier than the other students, they were both some of the smartest in the class. Perhaps the class wasn't all that challenging for them.

"I got a part time job and we're co-presidents for our school's photography club, plus we gotta make portfolios for our uni applications." Wakame explained as she reached into the bag and retrieved a handful of French fries," It would've been way too stressful to keep cram school in the mix. What about you, are you coming back next term?"

Kiriko shook her head and then answered," No, I've gotten quite busy too, but it's good to hear that you guys are going to be working on your portfolios. Are you applying to a Photography program?"

The two nodded and Kiriko was then reminded of Mari.

"You know, I'm friends with the president of my school's Photography club. She knows a lot about cameras and stuff, maybe she could help you guys out!" Kiriko suggested, excitement creeping up into her voice.

Elsewhere, Mari sneezed, strategically turning the camera in her hands away from her, so she wouldn't sneeze on the lens. Mari then rubbed her nose and glanced at the clock in the classroom.

"Who could be talking about me at this hour?" Mari wondered aloud as one of her clubmates approached her.

"Could you help me remove the lens on this camera, Mari?" The girl asked. Mari nodded and gestured her to hand her the camera as Mari put her own camera on the table next to her. Mari twisted off the lens with ease and gave it back to her fellow clubmate. The clubmate, Sakimi, then took the camera back and thanked Mari before she noticed the necklace Mari was wearing.

"Oh that's such a cute necklace! Did you just get it?" Sakimi asked as she stared at the pendant on the necklace.

Mari held the pendant tightly and nodded in response. The pendant of the necklace resembled a fishbowl, except much tinier, with little rainbow beads scattered inside of it. Mari looked down at it, admiring the beads as the light the hit them, and all of a sudden felt a bit frustrated.

"Yeah, my mom gave it to me a few days ago." Mari explained as she forced a smile on her face," It's really pretty, especially when the sun catches it."

Mari walked out of the school with Sakimi and the two parted ways shortly after. Mari was staring down at the necklace again while she was walking, and drew out a deep sigh as she twirled it around.

In truth, the necklace was very important to Mari's mother. She had received it when she was in the Laruan Kingdom and it was special her as it held her magic that she had sealed away before she decided to live in the human world. The necklace was indeed magical, but the magic residing wasn't very strong for the kingdom's standards. Mari clutched the pendant tightly and thought back to the day her mother entrusted her with the necklace.

 _"Bad things are happening to this city, and now we need to rely on the Pretty Cure to save both this world and..." Mari's mother trailed off feeling a bit choked up as she held the necklace in her hands,"...All we can do is believe in the Pretty Cure and hope that they can save everyone. Just like Cure Cheer did."_

 _Her mother placed the necklace in Mari's hands. Mari stared at the pendant for a long time in awe._

 _"This necklace will keep you safe. It will protect in ways that...that I never could." She said, her eyes downcast for a few long moments._

 _A silence formed between the two of them as the older woman was lost in thought and Mari was unsure of what to say. She felt as if she didn't deserve to take possession of the necklace. It almost felt as if it was too good for her. The pendant was pretty and filled with magic. It was so mesmerizing that Mari could have sworn the pendant was radiating some form of light from it. Of course, this wasn't first time Mari had seen this necklace._

 _It was important to her mom and when she was younger, she would always wear it when she'd read Mari a bedtime story. Often times, her bedtime stories were about Cure Cheer and her adventures in Laruan Kingdom. Mari was obsessed with the necklace as a child and wanted to own it someday, under the belief that the necklace could enable her to become a Pretty Cure._

Mari snapped out of her flashback once she realized she was almost home. The brunette placed her necklace underneath her shirt cautiously and continued walking. Once Mari got home, she went upstairs to her bedroom and crashed onto her bed. She removed the necklace from underneath her shirt and started to stare at it again.

Being a Pretty Cure was something that Mari wanted desperately as a child after hearing about Cure Cheer from her mother's tales. But, Mari knew she had to face reality. Even if she still wanted to, she didn't have magic as strong as Kiriko and her friends, and their likely wasn't any room left on the team.

The brunette then reminded herself that being a Pretty Cure was taxing in a way. The girls were constantly busy with their own obligations and to also have to be on alert for whenever those bad guys showed up whenever they pleased had to be inconvenient for them.

Mari's phone then vibrated from the side of her bed. She reached for her phone and then discovered that it was Kiriko who had messaged her. Mari read the message to see what Kiriko wanted.

 _"Hey Mari, I was just wondering if you had any of the other installations to the Lost Kingdom of Toys! I went to the library to find them, but it looks like they didn't have them."_ The message read.

Mari stared blankly at the text after reading if for a few moments. She felt somewhat glad that Kiriko was enjoying the books but at the same time, she also felt hesitant as she reached into the drawer of her side table and brought out the two installations to the book. One of the talked more about the kingdom and was called The Legend behind the Kingdom of Toys. The other one was called The Hero of Fortitude: The protector of the Kingdom of Toys. Mari held the two books close to her and brushed her hand against the sparkly book covers. She adored these books and always kept these books at hand's reach in her room.

Mari then flipped to one of the pages in the book and stared at a girl whose face wasn't shown fully to the reader, but was presumably the hero of fortitude. She had long pastel pink hair with light blue and lavender streaks gathered into a high-ponytail that reached her back. She dressed in pastel colours and wore gold bracelets but the thing that always caught Mari's attention was the large gold halo behind her head.

"I wonder what it would've been like to be a hero like Cure Cheer..." Mari thought to herself aloud as she stared at the figure.

Mari then realized she was zoning out and snapped herself back to her senses by clasping the book shut and saying," I shouldn't keep fantasizing over this stuff! The Pretty Cure have already been found, there isn't any reason for me to keep thinking like this. All I can do now is just sit back and put my trust in them."

The next day, Kiriko and Asuna were sitting at one of the benches near the school, waiting for Mari. Mari had agreed to let Kiriko borrow the books, but she under the impression that Kiriko simply liked reading the books. Kiriko was keeping an eye out for Mari while Asuna was on the phone with Sophie.

 _"Kiriko wants to meet at that cafe again to read books?"_ Sophie asked an incredulous voice to the already irritated Asuna. It was bad enough Sophie was insistent on calling her instead of texting. Asuna sighed and then offered the phone to Kiriko. Kiriko then took the phone from Asuna and held it up to her ear.

"Those books are about the Laruan Kingdom and it's likely that person writing it knew was either from the Laruan kingdom, or knew someone from there." Kiriko explained," I think you guys should have a look at them too."

 _"Do you think we should try to contact the author?"_ Sophie asked.

"I want to but I'm getting zero contact information on her." Kiriko answered as she pulled out the book from her backpack," With no website or any social media pages, it's been a lot harder than expected to find her."

Kiriko then caught sight of Mari coming out of the school and walking towards them. Kiriko handed the phone back to Asuna without even saying goodbye to Sophie and stood up while waving to Mari.

Mari waved back to her and took out the pair of books from her bag. She held them out to Kiriko with a usual bright smile on her face as she said,

"I hope you'll enjoy these books as well, please take good care of them."

Kiriko nodded attentively as she took the books from Mari. Kiriko was staring at the book covers and watched as the sparkles on the cover danced around in the light. Mari looked at her and Asuna, feeling as if they were distant from her. All those thoughts of her being unable to be a Pretty Cure while standing before Kiriko and Asuna were starting to swarm about in her head but, Mari kept her cool and was successful in keeping her thoughts at bay.

"I had some plans after class so I'll see you guys around ok?" Mari said as she waved goodbye to the girls. She left the girls and was just about to leave the school before remembering that she left a textbook she needed for her homework in the classroom. When she retrieved her textbook from out of her class room, she then noticed a familiar little blue elephant trying to navigate her way out of the school building. Mari walked over to her quietly and knelt down before her saying,

"Your name's Rani, right? Are you lost?"

Mari and Rani were outside of the school now, in search of Kiriko and Asuna with no luck in finding them. The two of them sighed in unison after coming to the conclusion that girls probably left the school by now. There wasn't anyone left at the school now since it was getting late, so Mari didn't have any other choice but to call Kiriko. After dialing Kiriko's number, Mari waited for her to answer but was directed to Kiriko's answering machine. Mari shook her head and simply hung up.

"I think she's busy right now." Mari stated as she started to type up a text for Kiriko," In the meantime, would you like to come to my house? It's pretty close to the school."

"I guess it beats staying around here." Rani replied.

The walk to Mari's house didn't take much time at all and since there were many people walking around in the neighbourhood, Mari and Rani were free to talk as much as they wanted. Mari was as cheerful and friendly as ever and Rani was taking a liking to her.

"Can you believe Kiriko would've done something like that though? It's so out of character for her." Rani pointed out as she sat on Mari's right shoulder," She always double-checks, even triple-checks her bag for something. But she was in such a hurry today!"

"Did she oversleep this morning?" Mari inquired.

Rani then shook her head saying," Not really, she only stayed in bed about eight minutes longer than normal. But I guess that was more than enough to be 'running late' for her."

Mari giggled and nodded in understanding.

"So, I actually don't know the full details about the attack on the Laruan Kingdom." Mari confessed as they arrived at her house,"Would you be comfortable in telling me what happened?"

Rani uneasily shifted her gaze to the side, not really wanting to disclose all those details to a non-Pretty Cure. If there was one thing that Rani wanted to make certain during her stay on Earth, it was that as little innocent people as possible got involved in this Pretty Cure business. The King and Queen wouldn't have wanted it any other way, and so far they were all doing a good job in keeping quiet. But Rani had to remind herself that Mari wasn't like everyone else and went as far as sharing the fact that her mother was from the kingdom and even swore to keep their secret.

"Alright, I suggest you listen well because I really don't want to say this stuff aloud again." Rani declared as she motioned Mari to take a seat in the living room," It started when Lilith had appeared on the day of Princess Arabella's coronation..."

At Cafe Rosewood, Asuna and Sophie were reading the second installment of the Kingdom of Toys series together while Kiriko was reading the last one. Kiriko was on the page where the mysterious girl dressed in pastel colours was seen. Kiriko stared the picture of the girl for a long time, and was trying to figure out where the girl fit into all this realistically.

Sophie was ready to turn the page now, but Asuna was still admiring the drawings on the page, completely unaware that Sophie was waiting on her.

"These books may be pretty, but they're definitely suspicious." Nova surmised as she looked through the book Kiriko was reading," A Kingdom where toys come to life set in a land filled with bright pastel colours and a hero of fortitude? Whoever wrote these books probably knew more about Cure Cheer's era than we did."

Kiriko nodded slowly and then returned her gaze to the girl on her page, saying to herself quietly," So does that mean this is Cure Cheer?"

Kiriko then closed her book and looked Nova in the eyes as she asked her," Is it possible that these books came from the Laruan Kingdom?"

Nova gave her a look of question and so Kiriko elaborated her question with," These books are clearly about the kingdom, and nobody from Earth would even know about this place right? So it'd only make sense that the books had been written in the kingdom and were somehow transported here."

"Maybe but, I don't see why anyone from the kingdom would want to write a book like this." Nova said with a shrug," It reads like a fairy tale, so it wouldn't have a place in the kingdom."

The girls orders then arrived after a long wait, but they weren't of much interest to the girls in comparison to the books. Kiriko chipped away at her cheesecake as she skimmed through the pages of the first book. Even if she had seen the drawings about a dozen times already, they were still fun to look at. But, Kiriko wasn't really paying much attention as she thought about what Nova said regarding 'Cure Cheer's era'.

Mari and Nova were in the kitchen now, with the former making snacks for the two of them. Things had gotten kinda quiet between them so to fill the silence, Mari decided to put on the radio and tune into a station that played songs from decades past. Mari smiled to herself as the sound of her favourite kind of music filled the room while she spread peanut butter onto a slice of bread. She looked over to Rani to see what she was doing and saw the little elephant swaying back and forth to the beat of the song. Mari giggled to herself and then brought the two sandwiches plus a bowl of freshly cut apples to the kitchen table.

As Mari and Rani ate their sandwiches, Rani inspected the kitchen and finally asked the question that had been on her mind.

"So, do you live here by yourself?" Rani asked.

Mari nearly choked on her sandwich and held back on laughing as she answered with," No, my parents are just working a little bit later than usual tonight."

Rani then nodded and Mari stopped eating her sandwich for a few moments as she thought about what happened earlier today. Mari felt disappointed and frustrated in herself for having those thoughts run rampantly in front of Kiriko and Asuna. She thought she was past that, that she was ok with being an ally and watching on the sidelines.

Rani took notice of Mari zoning rather quickly and immediately asked her," Is something bothering you?"

Mari forced a smile onto her face again and put her sandwich down. She was going to simply dispel any notion of displeasure that she had like always, she knew that doing otherwise would've likely bothered Rani, but then she stopped thinking like that for a moment and remained quiet.

"Have you ever, wondered what it would've been like to be a hero like Cure Cheer?" Mari finally asked, hesitance detectable in her voice.

"Yeah, quite often actually..." Rani confessed bashfully though Mari was both surprised and elated to hear that response. Mari smiled at the little blue elephant, unsure exactly what to say and only felt grateful knowing that she shared this feeling of wanting to be like Cure Cheer. Mari then reminded herself that chances are, it wasn't only the two of them in the world who wished to be like Cure Cheer. People who had read the book but didn't know who she was could admire her for her courage and passion and aspire to be like her. The desire to be like Cheer probably wasn't limited to the human world either. Citizens of the Laruan Kingdom must have saw Cure Cheer as a role model, a symbol of bravery, even if she was long gone.

Those citizens who were now losing everything they held dear to them were now clinging onto the hope that the Pretty Cure would put an end to Lilith, just like Cure Cheer once did. Mari looked out the window, and thought about how she could've been as unfortunate as the kingdom's inhabitants if her mother chose to stay in the kingdom. Even if the kingdom was made up of people she had never even met, Mari couldn't help but feel as if she was obligated to help them in some way.

Just then, the two of them heard a loud sound that was familiar to the both of them. They looked out the window and saw a Defective made from a shopping cart, with Bounce standing in front of it.

"Today's my lucky day!" Bounce cheered to herself as she laced her fingers behind her head," There aren't any of those bratty Pretty Cures in these parts!"

"That girl is on Lilith's side, right?" Mari asked nervously, her hands pressed against the window. Rani nodded as the two of them watched Bounce surveyed her surroundings with little interest. Bounce stretched her arms before she yawned loudly as the Defective waited on her.

"Alright, so since there isn't a single Pretty Cure in sight, we're going to do things a little differently today..." Bounce said to her Defective," We're going on a corrupted magic spree, meaning I'm gonna make you the most powerful Defective in history, ok?"

The Defective nodded and Bounce hopped on the Defective and stood in the upper compartment of the cart.

"Let's get moving!" Bounce shouted as she pointed into the distance. The Defective nodded in response and zoomed down the street.

"We can't let them do that! We need to tell Kiriko and the others!" Rani clamored fretfully with Mari nodding in response.

Mari was sending a text to Kiriko telling her to come to her house in hopes that they'd encounter Bounce and the Defective along the way. Mari then drew out a sigh, hoping Kiriko would receive the message in time, but Mari was feeling satisfied in only sending the text. She knew she had to do more. Mari tried thinking about other options and then decided to run out of the house, with Rani in hand and took her bike out from the garage.

Rani was clueless as to what Mari was doing as the brunette got onto the bike and place Rani inside the bike's basket. Rani looked up at Mari and was surprised to find a very determined and stern look on the girl's face.

"What are you doing?" Rani asked as Mari took a hold of the bike's handlebars.

"I'm going to catch that monster!" Mari declared as she started to cycle down the street, with Rani panicking in response.

"Are you out of your mind?! You could get hurt and have your magic sapped out of you within an instant if we catch up to them!" Rani explained to her anxiously.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Mari responded solemnly as she narrowed her eyes on the road ahead of her.

Elsewhere, Kiriko, Asuna and Sophie were running down the street in search of the Defective. Kiriko was leading the group, feeling herself grow uneasy at the thought of Bounce reaping out more magic from Patchwork Hearts she'd cross down the road. Not only that, she was nervous that Mari might have got her magic extracted out from Bounce. Kiriko told herself that Mari was smart, so she would've been able to avoid such a predicament.

Kiriko skidded to a stop once she saw a giant shopping cart a couple of feet away from them. Inside the cart, Bounce was holding what resembled a large mason jar that was glowing a variety of colours.

"This is awesome! With those Pretty Cure MIA, I can just collect as much magic as I want!" Bounce exclaimed as she gazed into the jar.

"Your fun ends here Bounce!" Kiriko shouted as she and the girls held up their PlayPacts and shouted out in unison,

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

A mass of violet, orange and blue lights streamed out of the girls PlayPacts and enveloped the three of them.

"The princess of wishes," Cure Dolly!" Dolly announced.

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!" Teddy announced.

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!" Bubbly announced.

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

The Pretty Cure stood in front of the Defective and wasted no time in trying to fight against it. Bubbly jumped up and twirled around, causing a tendril of water to form around her. Bubbly placed her arms in front of herself and pointed to the Defective and shouted out,

"Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!"

The Defective was moved back slightly from getting hit by the attack, but it wasn't enough to knock it down. Bubbly returned to the ground, feeling a bit irritated as her attack didn't deal out as much damage as she hoped. Teddy was conjuring up a pair of flaming spheres into her hands when she noticed that Dolly was looking at the Defective intently, as if something about it was bothering her.

"What is it?" Teddy asked her teammate, who was now staring at the wheels of the shopping cart.

"Don't these shopping carts typically lock when you try to take them out of the grocery store?" Dolly pointed out.

Mari was almost at the spot where the Cures and the Defective were fighting, she could easily see the Defective from where she was. Her insides were writhing inside of her as she grew closer to the Defective. It was bigger than a house, it's screams were blood-curdling and made her heart race at the sound of them plus it was strong enough to uproot trees with ease. Clearly, she didn't stand a chance against the Defective, the mere idea of coming close to it made her feel terrified. But, the idea of staying home and waiting around made her feel even worse.

As Mari got closer to the Defective, her heartbeat grew quicker but she paid no mind to it and instead focused on why she was doing this. Even if the Defective was ginormous and even if the Pretty Cure were there, it didn't mean she had to stand around and just watch them. She stood a few feet away from the battle now and looked at the Cures fighting against the Defective, with the Defective having the upper hand. The Defective was throwing the girls into buildings thoughtlessly and the Cures were struggling to put up much of a fight against the Defective.

"Pretty Cure, Gale of wi-!" Dolly said, interrupted in mid-sentence due to being picked by the Defective and getting dangled up high above the ground.

Dolly looked at her opponent upside down and appeared to be rather frustrated as she wiggled around in the Defective's grip, with no avail in freeing herself. She then looked over to her teammates and watched as Teddy and Bubbly tried to get back up again.

Teddy's knees were wobbling an awful lot as she fought to get back up on her feet. She glared at the Defective while it continued to hold Dolly and stood still for a few moments.

"Hey, Bubbly." Teddy said," I know we can't preform any kinda combo attack, but can you at least give me a lift?"

Bubbly then nodded after she stood back up and then the two of them ran towards the Defective. Teddy ignited another set of spheres made from fire in her hands. Bubbly laced her hands together and boosted Teddy up, causing her to jump higher than she could've on her own.

"Pretty Cure, flame of hope-!" Teddy was about to launch her attack, but the Defective grabbed a hold of both of her arms, as if it was putting out a match. Teddy was furious to see her attack had zero effect on the Defective and fought to free herself from it's grip.

"Wow, who would've thought I just needed to make a Defective from a shopping cart to defeat you girls?" Bounce remarked as she spectated the battle from the compartment," Plus you girls have a bunch of magic worth harvesting. I should've done this weeks ago!"

Bounce was smiling at the sight of the girls defenseless, but then, she felt a new kind of magic amongst them. It definitely wasn't as strong as the Pretty Cure but it was peculiar in how it felt. Bounce then looked over to the side and saw Mari standing with bike nervously. For a second, Bounce thought she was just imagining things but it felt clear that the magic she was sensing came from Mari.

"Hey specs, are you from the Laruan kingdom? Wearing some kinda disguise to blend in with the earthlings?" Bounce asked as she tried to better focus on where the magic was coming from, because something wasn't feeling quite right about the magic's circulation. Normally, it would flow through the body, like blood. But instead the magic remained in one place, specifically at the center of her chest.

Soon Bounce caught on and smiled as she extended her hand about as if she was going to grab something. Mari then instinctively clung onto her necklace, but it appeared Bounce was trying to take it through some kinda gravitational pull. Mari held on as tight as she could but Bounce inevitably ripped the pendant off from the necklace and held it between her fingers.

Bounce held it to the light and looked at it curiously while saying," It might look like some cheap pendant but...this is Laruan kingdom magic."

She held it tight in her hands, and nodded in approval as she tried to break the plastic ball around it. Surprisingly, it was tougher than she expected and she was experiencing difficulty trying to release the magic from it.

"This damn contraption is awfully tough..." Bounce remarked as she clenched her fist tighter.

Mari was horrified at the sight of Bounce attempting to break the pendant, her pupils shrunken to pinpricks. She felt hopeless and regretful, she should've just stayed at home where she, Rani and the necklace would've been safe from the likes of Bounce. But then, out of nowhere, she felt a sense of righteousness overcome her. Mari was tired of feeling sorry and complacent and just took a breath before she glared at Bounce as she began to walk towards her.

"Mari what are you doing?" Bubbly asked as she tried to stop her when she came near, but her efforts were fruitless.

Mari stopped walking once she was close enough to the Defective, and said," You people from Asperity have been doing nothing but hurting other people and making them miserable. I'm not upset, I only want to know, why are you doing this? What would you have to gain?"

Bounce rolled her eyes and then said," Man you earthlings are the absolute worst. You could never even hope to understand how we at Asperity-!"

"-I'm not asking Asperity, I'm asking you." Mari interjected, catching Bounce off-guard as she tried to from some kinda response.

After a few moments, Bounce couldn't create a proper reply and only said," Who cares? My beliefs are the same as Asperity's and if one thing's for certain, you're in all in our way!"

Bounce snapped her fingers, which somehow caused the Defective to drop both Dolly and Teddy and she then said," I'm sick of this girl, get rid of her right now!"

The Defective did as instructed and tried to grab Mari but instead, the Defective had been blocked by a transparent shimmery barrier that encircled around Mari. Everyone looked at the surrounding sphere with a shocked look on their face while Mari continued to glare at Bounce.

"While I can't understand your actions and even if you won't give me a proper answer, I don't have any ill will towards you, I think that you can do better than this." Mari declared briskly," However, you'll still be held accountable for your actions. I refuse to sit back and let you steal from others anymore! I don't care if I'm not a Pretty Cure. Even if I'm just a normal person, I won't let that stop me from protecting my world and the Laruan kingdom!"

Just then, Bounce felt the pendant in her hand grow hot, unbearably hot, to the point where she was no longer able to keep it in her hands. She had to let go of it and in that very instant, the pendant gravitated to Mari and turned into a white Playpact with a purple bow and a rainbow on it.

Mari was inside a sparkly white void with the white Playpact levitating before her. She held her hands out and took the Playpact and eyed it carefully.

Rani leapt out of the basket and tried getting as close to Mari as she could while shouting," Mari, you're a Pretty Cure! Hold your Playpact up high and shout, 'Pretty Cure, it's playtime!"

Mari nodded and held out the Playpact and yelled out," Pretty Cure, it's playtime!"

A spectrum of lights circled around Mari like a cyclone and covered her completely. Her school clothes were obscured by a set of bright sparkly white lights and once the lights disappeared, a white dress with a rainbow pattern on the skirt with buttons of every colour in the rainbow appeared. The dress had an off-shoulder style and had pale pink and lilac trimming along with pale pink frills at the bottom of it. Mari twirled around and the skirt of the dress took shape and became puffier. Mari then held her hands up in front of her forehead and tilted her head to the side, causing a pair of rainbow sleeveless gloves that extended to her forearm to appear. Next, she tilted her chin upwards and then her hair grew long and white and was arranged into a half-up pony-tail secured by a lilac bow and a braid around her head. Lastly, she tapped her heels and appearing on her legs were a pair of white knee-high socks and pale pink mary-jane styled shoes.

Mari then struck a pose and announced," The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"

Everyone in the area fell quiet, and just stared at Fantasy in surprise. Fantasy then finally took a moment to look at herself and inspected her hands carefully. These gloves, the long white hair and dress, it all felt so unreal, like this was some kinda dream she was bound to wake up from any minute now. But no, she didn't need to wake up, this was all a reality, the reality that she thought would never happen.

Fantasy took a deep breath and finally accepted the fact that this was all real and said to Bounce," This has gone on long enough! I...I'm going to-!"

"Do what?" Bounce interjected as she jumped out of the compartment," You may have been able to transform, but what good can you do?"

The Defective then returned to battle and wasted no time in trying to fight against the Pretty Cure. Fantasy looked towards the Defective, petrified by fear for a moment until she heard a pair of voices shout from behind her,

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"

"Pretty Cure, Flame of Hope!"

The Defective was blasted back a few feet and while the Defective was still trying to recover from the attack, the Pretty Cure approached their new teammate.

"Welcome to the team, Cure Fantasy!" Dolly beamed as she told a hold of both Fantasy's hands.

Fantasy was unsure of what to say and simply just stared at her teammates in awe. The Cures were all smiling at her and watching them made her feel as if this was all too good to be true again. She then smiled back to the girls and just then, the Defective swung towards the girls.

Fantasy then shouted," Look out!" And then held her hands out in front of herself, somehow causing the Defective's arms to disappear.

The Cures eyed the Defective curiously, who was just as confused as they were as it looked at the pegs where it's arms once were. It didn't feel any pain, nor did it feel as if it's arms were gone.

"Whoa, nice job Fantasy! You showed that Defective who's boss, getting rid of it's arms like that." Teddy remarked, though Fantasy and Dolly didn't seem convinced that the Defective had lost it's arms.

"I didn't do that." Fantasy informed her, once she caught on to what had happened to the Defective.

The Defective then realized that Fantasy hadn't actually removed it's arms, she just made them invisible. Once the Defective figured this out, it's arms returned to normal. The Defective returned to fighting the girls and the cures fought back.

"Interesting, so Fantasy has some form of optical-illusion based powers..." Dolly thought aloud, with Bubbly and Teddy overhearing her.

"So does that mean she can make mirages and stuff?" Bubbly asked as she delivered a kick in the Defective's core.

Dolly nodded hesitantly, while staring at the wheels of the Defective as she said," It would appear so."

 _"Right now, we gotta get this Defective to put it's wheels onto the ground! I'm sure it would lock if that were to happen."_ Dolly thought to herself before she looked over to Fantasy, who was still trying to get used to and figure out her fighting style _," Maybe she can make it happen."_

Dolly then fell behind and jumped backwards and called out for Fantasy.

Fantasy followed after her and Dolly then asked her," I know this might seem like I'm asking for a lot, but, do you think you'd able to pull the Defective down onto it's wheels to make them land on the ground?"

"To make the wheels lock, right?" Fantasy questioned, with Dolly smiling in excitement, not expecting Fantasy to guess that," I'll try to figure out something, ok? You can count on me."

Dolly nodded in response and the two of them ran back into the fight. Fantasy tried thinking of what she could while they fought and after a few moments, a thought came to her. She wasn't sure if her powers were strong enough to do it, but it was worth a shot.

Fantasy then leapt down and held one arm in front of herself shouting," Pretty Cure, Playground of Pretenders!"

A metal chain appeared around one of the Defective's legs and the other end of the chain was in Fantasy's hands.

"I just gotta pull this thing down and the Defective's wheels will lock!" Fantasy said to herself, before the other Cures came to her side to assist her. The four of them pulled at the chain as hard as they could in hopes of making the Defective fall over. Even with their strengths combined, the cures were facing difficulty against the Defective.

"Just a little bit more, we can do this!" Fantasy, who was at the front of the team, yelled in an encouraging voice. Finally, the cures succeeded and the Defective had fallen down onto it's knees where the wheels of the shopping cart were located. The Defective appeared to have been fully drained of it's energy and didn't move anymore after that.

"We did it!" Dolly cheered while Teddy and Bubbly both high-fived fantasy," Fantasy, did you want to purify it?"

Fantasy was bewildered at the very thought of it and said in response," Ok, I'm not exactly sure how to do that though."

"It's easy." Rani said as she ran up towards the group," You just concentrate on your flow of magic and then channel it all towards the Defective!"

Fantasy didn't seem to be following completely, but she nodded and said," I'll give it my best shot!"

The Cure clad in white then shut her eyes and held her hands out in front of herself and tried to clear her thoughts.

"Pretty Cure, Dreaming Captivation!" Fantasy shouted, the atmosphere around them resembling a kaliedoscope in middle sentence. The Defective was purified and reverted to it's original form.

"God, I'm gonna get an earful for this one." Bounce said to herself, drawing out a long sigh before she took her leave.

"Mari, I'm so happy that you got to be a member of our team." Dolly said before she reversed her transformation," I always thought if we were going to have another member, I would've liked it to be you."

"Thanks Kiriko, I don't...I never thought this would happen. I always wanted to be a Pretty Cure, but I didn't think I would be strong enough to be chosen." Mari confessed," I'm guess this means I'm pretty lucky."  
"I don't think it was luck." Asuna stated, as she smiled to Mari," You deserve to be on this team, just like the rest of us."

Sophie nodded and commented," Yeah, you were really brave out there, it was really cool!"

"I look forward to working with you as our newest addition to Toychest Pretty Cure. Congratulations, Mari." Kiriko said as she smiled at her team.

Bounce returned to Asperity and saw the cat she had met last time welcoming her home by brushing up against her.

"Kat, I already said you gotta hide in my bedroom! Nobody can know I brought you here, got it?" Bounce said as she knelt down to the cat and pet it tenderly. The green-haired girl then took the cat into her arms and returned her to the bedroom, making sure that her door was closed this time.

Bounce then returned out into the main room and found Jack and Domino working away on their own little projects.

"Where did she go?" Bounce asked, taking note of the fact that the door to Lilith's throne room was open, which virtually never happened," Wasn't she supposed to come back by now?"

"Lilith said she had a lead on the well of wonder, so heaven knows when she'll return." Domino responded, not even lifting his gaze from his new set of blueprints.

Lilith was standing in a forest, with a force field built around her and the well of wonder. She was draped over the well and clung onto it tightly, her head pressed against the bricks of the well.

"Now we can really get things into motion." Lilith crooned before she lifted her head off the well and looked down into it.

What Lilith saw in the well definetely wasn't a sight she had been expecting. She thought she was going to see bright shimmery pink fluids, the magic of well, inside. But instead, she only saw a faint white light from inside of it. It was absolutely not as magical as the fluids that came from the well, but it didn't matter, the well was hers now.

Lilith then felt a chill crawl down her spine and wondered what caused it. She then looked deeper into the well and only then noticed that the cold was coming from inside the well.

"What could be going on with the well?" Lilith asked aloud as she continued to stare into it.


	17. A dauntless diner

"Happy Birthday, Echo!" Kiriko and a few of her fellow associates shouted in unison, while the cafe's supervisors broke open some party poppers and the manager brought out a big cake for everyone to share.

Asuna, Sophie and Mari were all sitting at a table at the cafe Kiriko worked at. Today, Echo was to be closed at six, and so once the doors were closed to the public, the team had decided to throw a party in honor of Echo's fifteenth anniversary. The team had originally planned to have only employees present at the party, but Kiriko really wanted the girls here too and insisted there was no way that the party would have been as much fun with only the cafe associates here to celebrate. She even made the argument that it wouldn't be likely that they could all finish a such a large cake by themselves.

"Wow, it feels like just yesterday that I got my job here at Echo!" Ayaru remarked as he took a slice of cake for himself," Time flies working here!"

"This is your third year at the cafe, right?" Kiriko asked, her mouth full of cake as Ayaru nodded in response,"Wow, that takes dedication."

Mari and Asuna were busy grabbing slices of cake and went back to their booth. Asuna slid a plate with a slice of cake to Sophie and the girls looked around the cafe and watched as the associates talked amongst each other.

"With Kiriko hanging out with her co-workers, it appears we've become the odd ones out." Sophie pointed out sheepishly as the girls watched Kiriko talk to Ayaru and another co-worker.

"This cafe is quite nice, I don't think I've ever been here." Mari stated as she took a bite from her slice," Have you two?"

Sophie shook her head and Asuna replied with," I went here a few months ago with my mom. They've got really good desserts."

Asuna's eyes were downcast as she gazed at her slice, thinking to herself," _Come to think of it, this is the place where I met Kiriko."_

Asuna returned her gaze back towards Mari, and then noticed that Sophie was staring at her with an incredulous look on her face. She looked uncomfortable with Sophie staring at her and asked out of irritation,

"What is it?"  
"That's like cheating on cafes! Haven't you ever heard of brand loyalty?" Sophie chided as she took a slice of her cake.

"Hm, Soph does raise a good point. But, usually the term brand loyalty refers more to a product in an over-saturated market. Like sugar or chapstick." Mari explained sheepishly, though it didn't seem like Asuna and Sophie were paying much attention to her at the moment.

"I don't really see it that way since while they might both be called cafes, they offer very different choices. Rosewood specializes in desserts, while Echo more main entrees, so it'd feel demeaning to slump them together in the same category, you know?" Asuna explained, surprising both Mari and Sophie as they were expecting such a sophisticated response from her.

"By the way, I know this is unrelated but..." Asuna began as Kiriko walked over to their booth to take a seat," What was inside that pendant of yours?"

"Oh, um...it was magic that belonged to my mom. When she came to the human world, she decided it'd be best to live without her powers circulating around, so she sealed them up and placed it inside the pendant." Mari answered, playing with the necklace chain where the pendant once resided," I guess my mom would be pretty annoyed to see that her pendant is gone. But, what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

The girls nodded and then, a loud, jarring sound was heard that seemed to have come from the basement. Though it wasn't very loud, it was enough to startle Kiriko and have some other associates wonder what the sound was. It sounded like something heavy had dropped, but no one had a clue on what it could be. So, Kiriko, Ayaru, and a supervisor were nominated to go down to the basement and check things out.

The basement was poorly-lit and dirty, it wasn't often that the employees would need to come down here.

"It's so dark down here, what if the sound came from a burglar?" Ayaru asked nervously as he held a flashlight in front of himself while he hid behind Kiriko nervously. His hiding didn't do him much good since he was a lot taller than Kiriko.

"Well, it would've been a bust for them because we don't keep anything in the basement, right?" Kiriko asked as she turned around to the supervisor.

"Not usually, but...you never know what could be stowed away down here." The supervisor pointed out before he noticed a very large pan on the ground," I think this was the thing that fell down."

Ayaru shone his flashlight on the pan and then to the wall above it, taking note of the fact that the whole rack had fallen down. The three of them sighed in relief.

"Well, at least we know what made that sound." Kiriko said as she leaned against the wall beside her. Her eyes then grew wide as she felt a doorknob. She then turned around and motioned Ayaru to flash the light towards her and they discovered a door behind Kiriko. Kiriko then nervously turned the doorknob and opened the door, much to her own surprise.

Kiriko went inside curiously, with Ayaru following after her to make sure she wouldn't get hurt.

"What is this, some kinda old storage room?" Kiriko asked uneasily as she swiped her finger against a small table in the room, inspecting the amount of dust her finger collected.

"This place is giving me the creeps Kiriko! Let's just leave and act like nothing ever happened!" Ayaru begged, his eyes squeezed shut as he unintentionally shone light onto a large book on the table.

"What's this?" Kiriko asked as she blew dust off from the cover," Mankai? What is that?"

Ayaru stopped being scared for a moment and answered with," Oh, Mankai was the name of the diner that was here before it closed down and became Echo! This must be a photo album from back in the day!"

Kiriko opened the book and the two of them found out that Ayaru was correct as the pages were filled to the brim with photos from decades past.

"I heard Mankai was crazy popular back in the day, but I guess as times started to change, the diner couldn't or rather, refused to keep up and made a decision to close down once they realized they weren't going to bring business back." Ayaru explained as Kiriko flipped through the pages.

Kiriko stopped on a page and carefully inspected a photo of two girls wearing a pair of red aprons and off-white button up shirts. One girl was slightly taller and had dark hair arranged into a high ponytail, the shorter girl appeared to be a brunette (it was hard to tell since the photo was in black and white) with her hair styled into braids. The two girls had their arms around each with very large grins on their faces. Kiriko liked looking at the picture and the girls looked awfully familiar. Kiriko then took a closer look at the name-tags on each of the girls aprons and was surprised as she read the name of the taller girl.

"Ryoko?" Kiriko read aloud, coughing from the amount of dust she inhaled.

Kiriko and Ayaru brought the photo album upstairs for everyone to see and for Kiriko to get a better look at the photo of the two girls.

"That has to be my grandma!" Kiriko exclaimed excitedly as she pointed to the girl with the Ryoko name-tag.

"Wow, that's so cool that your grandma worked here! It must be fate that you got the job here at Echo." A coworker said to Kiriko, giving her an elbow nudge.

Kiriko nodded in response as she said," I bet she'd like to see what Mankai looks like today, maybe it'd make her feel all nostalgic. Can I ask her to come to the party?"

The manager nodded and Kiriko dialed up her grandma and waited for her to pick up before she noticed Asuna was also staring at the photo, as if she was trying to recognize one of the girls.

"Do you recognize her?" Kiriko asked Asuna, who seemed hesitant in responding.

"I don't really want to steal your thunder but..." Asuna began as her gaze shifted to the side for a moment before she pointed to the shorter girl with the braids named Aika,"I think this is my grandma."

"Really?!" Kiriko asked excitedly, with Asuna nodding in response," Go call her up and see if she can make it!"

Asuna did as instructed to and just then, Kiriko's grandmother picked up the call.

"Hey grandma! I'm really sorry I haven't made the time to go see you, but I saw an old photo of you at the Mankai diner and I wanted to know if you'd like to come and see what it looks like now." Kiriko offered as a smile of excitement made its way onto her face.

"What Mankai looks like now? I'm not sure if I can make it today, I had a lot of chores I needed to finish." Ryoko reasoned, though Kiriko wasn't ready to give up.

Kiriko reasoned with, "Come on, you can do chores any other day! You can eat cake, finally get to see the cafe I work at and maybe even reunite with your old friend Aika!"

" _Aika?_ You mean to tell me Aika will be making an appearance at this function?" Ryoko questioned, her tone turning sour.

Kiriko seemed confused by this change in tone from her grandmother and said," Yeah, hopefully. Isn't Aika an old friend of yours?"

Ryoko then said vehemently, "I don't want to see Aika, she's, she's annoying and stuck-up and-!"

"-Hi granny, what are you up to?" Asuna asked into her phone," Would you like to stop by the new and improved Mankai and meet your old pal Ryoko?"

"Ryoko? You mean that insufferable witch from the diner? No thank you, I rather stay at home and not get yelled at by a spoiled brat." Aika said over the phone.

"A spoiled brat? As if you're calling me that!" Ryoko shouted over the phone, forgetting that Kiriko was holding the phone up close to her ear.

"Is that Ryoko? Make this a three-way call and so I can give her a piece of my mind!" Aika demanded, though Asuna didn't seem impressed and impatiently shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Grandma, that's not how phone calls work." Asuna reminded her with a sigh," But...I guess I can put you on speaker?"

Asuna gingerly placed her phone on the table and Kiriko followed suite as she put her phone on the table, also putting her grandma on speaker.

"Is Aika on the other line? I already said I don't want to speak with her!" Ryoko clamored furiously.

"Are you just gonna try play the victim again? You've got some nerve talking to me like that, considering I'm the one who kept you safe from Urokawa all these years." Aika pointed out in an angered voice," If it wasn't for me, you would've been living the rest of your life in-!"

"I am so sick of hearing you say that over and over again! You aren't even going to finish that sentence anyways, so I don't know why I still bother listening to you." Ryoko said before she hung up on the call.

"That hot-headed fool! That's it, I don't ever want to speak to her again, not for the rest of my life." Aika declared in frustration," Asuna, how did you get a hold of Ryoko?"

"Oh, well... me and my friend Kiriko found an old photo of you two. You see, Kiriko's her granddaughter and-"

"-Ryoko's granddaughter? No, you're not allowed to be around that girl. If she's anything like Ryoko, her temper and impatience will only cause you misery. Stay away from that family and keep away from this Kiriko girl!" Aika demanded before she hung up.

The cafe fell silent, and everyone was staring at Kiriko and Asuna. Most people were stunned to find that their grandmothers were actually quite bitter towards each other, others were just surprised they just saw an argument happen through two phones on speaker. Kiriko took a seat and just took her phone into her hands, wearing a frustrated look on her face.

"It seems like there's some sorta misunderstanding between them..." Kiriko pointed out as she looked at the phone's blank screen," Maybe we should find out what it was!"

"But that was over forty years ago, how are we supposed to find out what happened between them?" Ayaru pointed out.

"I can call my grandma to hear her explanation, and then maybe we can call Asuna's grandma to and see what isn't aligning with their sides of the story." Kiriko suggested, with the group seeming to agree with her," Maybe there are more photo albums downstairs as well, if we're lucky there might be some kinda clue in one of them. Sophie and Mari, do you guys think you could check downstairs for them?"

The girls nodded and went downstairs to look for them. The basement was just as dark as before, so Mari used her phone's flashlight to help them navigate through the basement, while Sophie stood behind her.

"Mari, this place is too cold~! We gotta crank up the heat in here." Sophie said as she tried warming up her goose-bump covered arms.

"Don't worry, I doubt we'll be here for long." Mari reassured in a gentle voice as they entered the room where Kiriko found the photo album. Mari flashed her phone light towards the table and saw another photo album there. The brunette opened the book and found a photo of Ryoko and Aika, accompanied by another girl.

"She's not wearing a name-tag..." Mari commented, before the door to the storage room suddenly slammed shut on them.

Sophie squealed and clung onto Mari's arm as she shouted," What the heck is going in here?! Are we stuck inside?"

Mari then walked over to the door, almost certain that it would open again, but as she turned the doorknob, she found herself experiencing some difficulty in getting the door to open again. Mari tried again and again and the longer she took in trying to open the door, the more panicked Sophie became.

"We're trapped inside!" Sophie clamored, before Mari motioned her over to help with the door. The girls tried pulling it open, with no avail, and then, the two of them felt a tremor so strong that they near fell to their feet. The two of them were on the knees and exchanged looks wondering just what was going on.

Just then, the door swung open and the basement was no longer dark or filled with dust. Sophie and Mari exited the storage room, before not before Mari pocketed the picture from the album.

The girls could hear music that sounded like it came from the sixties playing from upstairs and it sounded as if it had gotten a lot busier up there too. They could hear chatter from dozens of people, and brighter lights seemed to have been coming from upstairs.

"Are we still at Echo?" Sophie asked as the girls walked up the stairs.

When the girls exited the basement, they found the cafe was open to the public, but things looked a lot different from before. The floors now featured a checkered pattern, there were bright red and blue booths lined up by the windows and there was a jukebox blasting music. Many waitresses on duty, but only two of them seem to catch Mari's eye. The two of them greatly resembled Kiriko and Asuna and wore the name-tags 'Ryoko' and 'Aika'.

"This isn't Echo. Or at least, it isn't Echo _yet_." Mari concluded as they watched the two waitresses serve different tables.

Mari and Sophie were now sitting at a booth and looking at a pair of menus. The two of them held the menus close to their faces in hopes of not making eye-contact with anyone at the diner. They had already garnered enough attention with their clothing.

"This is impossible, how did we time-travel back to the sixties?" Sophie questioned as she held her menu close to her face.

"Beats me." Mari answered as she put her menu down," But, we might have a good chance of finding out what happened between Ryoko and Aika now."

Sophie shrugged and moments later, a server came to their table. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't Ryoko or Aika, but rather a lanky boy in his mid-teens who bore some resemblance to Asuna's older brother Tadashi. Except he seemed a lot less confident and had braces.

"Welcome to Mankai, I'm Kyohei and I'll be your server for the afternoon." The server greeted nervously," Have you girls decided on what you'll be ordering?"

"Yeah, but before we order...can we just say you guys have some amazing customer service?" Mari remarked, receiving a look of question from Sophie," This place feels like home, you guys sure know how to make your guests feel welcome. Those two in particular are also doing a fine job."

"Ah, Ryoko and Aika?" Kyohei asked as he turned to see who Mari was pointing to," Yeah, they're good at this job. They're very lively and energetic, they'd probably make a good stand-up act too. Not to mention they're really pretty."

"Ooh, are trying to make your move on one of them?" Sophie interrogated, only making the server even more nervous.

"W-well, Aika's single, but Ryoko isn't. Which is fine by me because I like Aika more..." Kyohei stammered out, hiding his face behind his notepad," I've been hearing rumors that Ryoko's been dating that gang leader Urokawa, but if you ask me-"

"Kyohei, are you bothering these girls for their number?" Ryoko teased as she gave him a light elbow nudge. Kyohei shook his head vigorously in response.

 _"She even sounds like Kiriko!"_ Sophie and Mari thought.

"N-n-no Ryoko! I was just telling them how you and Aika were such good servers..." Kyohei said in his defense, slowly removing his face away from the notepad. Ryoko then turned around to see what Aika was doing. Aika, who was a dead ringer for Asuna, had been helping out a table on the other side of the diner, twirling her braids around as she talked to a group of boys.

"I see. Well, Aika doesn't have long until she leaves for her studies in America. So our unit will be missing an integral member." Ryoko said in a wistful voice as she drew her gaze away from Aika," So that means you gotta make your move soon if you want her to notice you Kyohei!"

"So Kyohei, have you got these girls numbers yet?" Aika asked in a somewhat bored voice as she approached them with a set of empty plates in hand.

"I already used that joke you ditz." Ryoko chided before noticing that Aika was chewing gum," And you're not allowed to chew gum on the job!"

"I'll chew gum whenever I want, think you're gonna stop me?" Aika teased as she blew a bubble in Ryoko's face before she ran away.

"Come back here you scamp!" Ryoko shouted as she chased after Aika.

After Kyohei took the girls orders, he left the girls and so they tried to piece together what happened. Ryoko and Aika still seemed to be very close to each other, did that mean they went back too far?

"Hey Mari, how do you suppose we get back to our time?" Sophie asked worriedly as she almost reached for her phone in her pocket, but decided against taking it out.

"I guess we just, go back to the storage room and hope for the best?" Mari suggested, though her voice sounded rather uncertain," But, let's not focus on that. We need to figure out what made those two split up! Do you think it had something to do with Aika moving?"

Sophie shrugged and then replied with," It's possible but...I don't feel like that was the reason. I'm gonna go the washroom, I'll be right back, ok?"

Mari nodded and Sophie stood up to go to the washroom. When she walked to the washroom, she walked past the very small break room for the servers and saw Ryoko talking on the phone in the room.

"You can't be serious! But I would never do that to you!" Ryoko said into the phone in a desperate voice," Who told you I did that, Haru?"

"My source said I wasn't allowed to tell you, just like how you weren't allowed to tell anyone about my fight behind the school tomorrow!" The voice on the other line, Haru, said.

"You are so stupid! I thought we were friends, I thought you would never believe someone else over me!" Ryoko chastised before she muttered to herself while pressing her hand over the phone," Some boyfriend you are."

"Whatever, I'm done with you." Haru said before he hung up.

Ryoko was furious as she hung up the phone and angrily said to herself," I'm gonna get to the bottom of this."

Ryoko then stormed out of the room, not even noticing Sophie next to the doorway. Sophie double-blinked in surprise as she watched Ryoko walk into the main floor of the diner.

Standing at the roof top of the diner was a man with dark green and black hair styled into pompadour. He dressed in a dark green and black jacket embellished with studs and matching pants. He was rather tall and had sharp teeth but his most unusual feature was his bright red eyes.

He smelt the food being cooked in the diner and said to himself," This is going to be outta sight!"

Sophie was running back to the booth where she left Mari, who now had a pair of entrees before her. Sophie was trying to piece her thoughts together as she approached the booth but then, a loud roar that sounded like a Defective filled the restaurant and everyone looked around, only to find that the jukebox had been turned into a monster.

"We gotta get out of here!" One of the guests shouted as they all ran out of the restaurant.

"Where are the Pretty Cure?" Kyohei shouted before he ran out of the restaurant.

Sophie and Mari hid under their table, and exchanged looks after hearing the Pretty Cure mention. Once the entire restaurant had been cleared out, the girls stepped out of their hiding place and found the tall man from before standing with the Jukebox monster. The tall man then went over the counter and started to ravage through the to-go bags lined up near the register.

"Man, that hits the spot!" He said as he took a bite of a burger and a large sip from a milkshake glass," I'm gonna bring these back as a souvenir for sure! Everyone will be saying 'Oh Durian, you're so boss for getting us all this stuff!' "

"Who the heck is that supposed to be?" Sophie asked, her eyes narrowed at the sight of Durian devouring the burger. Mari simply shook her head and took out her Playpact, with Sophie following suite.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" The girls shouted in unison as an array of blue and white appeared out of their Playpacts.

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!" Bubbly introduced.

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!" Fantasy introduced.

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

Once Durian finished eating the burger, he finally noticed the Pretty Cure in the room and stared at them with a confused look on his face as he squinted at the girls.

"Who are you two?" Durian asked plainly before he started to drink the milkshake again.

Fantasy seemed slightly irritated and simply said in response," Uh, we're the Toychest Pretty Cure?"

"The what? The only Pretty Cure team I've ever heard of is the Fruits Pop Pretty Cure." Durian explained as he took a large sip from the milkshake glass," Oh well, it doesn't matter to me. Rottenio, sock it to 'em!"

The Rottenio started running towards the cures and tried to attack them. The cures had no trouble in dodging and were thankful that the Rottenio didn't grow to a ridiculous size. Though, the Rottenio was rather quick in comparison to a normal Defective. The cures jumped back quite a few times, unable to land a hit on the Rottenio just yet.

Bubbly jumped onto one of the booth tables and tried preforming a dive-kick from there. The attack worked, hitting the Rottenio square in it's core but as soon as Bubbly hit it, the Rottenio produced a very harsh, pain-inducing sound from it's speaker.

"Hey, that wasn't necessary you know!" Bubbly shouted as she clamped her ears shut with her hands, leaving her open and defenseless. The Rottenio then produced as sound wave so powerful, it threw Bubbly back to the other side of the diner. She fell onto a table lined up against the wall and the table legs buckled from her fall.

"Yeah, that's how it's done! Keep going and drain them of all their Sweet count!" Durian exclaimed, now reaching for the box of fries next to him," Wow, and to think for a second I was really scared there, turns out you two are just all show and no go!"

Fantasy rushed over to help Bubbly back onto her feet. Bubbly seemed ok for the most part thankfully, but unfortunately, so did the Rottenio. The Rottenio impatiently waited for the cures to make their next move and so, Fantasy took a step forward.

"This is only my second battle, so I can't really figure out how to apply my powers to this fight as quickly as I'd like..." Fantasy thought to herself before the Rottenio blasted another sound wave. The sound wave was just about to hit Fantasy, and so she leapt up as high as she could and clung onto one of the suspended ceiling lights. The Rottenio then looked around for Fantasy, unsure of where she went.

"Now's my chance!" Fantasy said to herself quietly before she jumped off of the ceiling light.

"Rottenio, she's above you! Hurry up and get out of the way!" Durian commanded with his mouth full.

The Rottenio dodged Fantasy's attack, but wasn't quickly enough to dodge Bubbly's. From the corner of it's eye, the Rottenio saw a flashing blue light and knew it was in trouble.

"Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!" Bubbly shouted, hitting the Rottenio dead on. The Rottenio was pushed back a few feet by the impact of the hit and Durian seemed rather unpleased at the sight.

"Alright, now you two have done it." Durian declared in frustration as he created a spiky dark green band around his finger. Durian snapped and the band gravitated towards the cures and once it was just above them, it turned into some kind of barrier and trapped the cures inside of it.

The cures tried physically breaking free from the barrier but with no avail. Durian then walked towards them, snickering at the sight of the cures trapped inside. Durian then placed his hand on the barrier and continued to watch the duo.

"What's this? You girls don't know how to escape from one of my barrier seeds?" Durian questioned as he tapped his fingers against the barrier," I thought you two said you were Pretty Cure."

Fantasy was just about to respond when suddenly, the door broke open and in came a pair of girls who seemed to be about Bubbly and Fantasy's age. One girl was dressed in bright green, the other was wearing red. Even if it was the sixties, the girl's had on unusual outfits and they had bright, unnatural hair colours, which could've only meant one thing.

"Durian, you skuzzbucket! Trapping innocent girls like that is totally uncalled for!" The girl in red hollered.

"You're gonna be a dead man by the time we're through with you!" The girl in green declared.

Bubbly and Fantasy were speechless and couldn't stop staring at the two girls. Durian however, simply laughed at the two of them until his sides started to hurt.

"Geez, first you show up late and then you start spewing some lame threats? I can't get enough of you Pretty Cure." Durian claimed as he leaned against the barrier.

The girl in green gnashed her teeth together and then held her arms high as she shouted," Pretty Cure, citrus spike!"

A bright green beam of light emerged from out of her palms, but the attack wasn't aimed to the Rottenio but rather, the barrier that was holding Fantasy and Bubbly.

"What is she doing?" Bubbly and Fantasy asked in unison as they watched the attack come straight for them.

"Duck!" The girl in red shouted to them. Bubbly and Fantasy did as told and ducked for cover as fast as they could. The attack was strong enough to break the barrier, much to their surprise and then the diner began to smell of rotten fruits.

"This is so gross! Why did it have to be in the diner?" The girl in red lamented as she stomped her foot and plugged her nose while her teammate ran over to Bubbly and Fantasy.

"Are you two ok? Nothing's broken, right?" She asked in a concern voice as she helped up Bubbly. Bubbly nodded in response and continued to stare at the girl clad in green. Was this girl unable to tell that she and Fantasy were Pretty Cure? It was beyond her.

The Rottenio then finally recovered from Bubbly's attack and returned to fighting against the Pretty Cure. The two new girls stood in front of Bubbly and Fantasy, as if they were trying to protect them.

"Tormenting defenseless young girls and stealing food from a diner is absolutely unforgivable!" The green girl shouted angrily as she pointed her finger in front of Durian," We, the Fruits Pop Pretty Cure are going to put an end to you!"

"I'd sure like to see you try, Cure Lime and Cure Cherry!" Durian remarked as he took a seat on one of the bar stools.

The Rottenio charged towards the Pretty Cure and Cure Cherry started to run towards it without a second thought. She was quite fast and it didn't appear that she was using magic to enhance her speed. It was hard to tell who was faster though.

"Pretty Cure, Cherry dynamo rhapsody!" Cure Cherry shouted as she halted to a stop, swirled around and sent a kick right onto the Rottenio.

The cures were rather impressed with Cure Cherry, would stood gallantly with her arms at her hips. Just then, the Rottenio created a sound wave, possibly the loudest one yet and projected it straight to Cherry. Cherry was blasted up into the air and then the Rottenio leapt up and kicked her in her stomach. She was sent flying and her fall was broken by Bubbly and Fantasy.

Lime was infuriated and turned her attention to the Rottenio as she shouted," Nobody treats my best friend like that!"

Lime then darted towards the Rottenio with Bubbly and Fantasy right behind her. The three of them began to fight together against the Rottenio, with Cherry joining in shortly after. The way that Lime and Cherry fought was awfully similar to Dolly and Teddy's fighting style. It felt like more than just a coincidence, but the cures didn't have time to focus on that. It didn't take to drain the Rottenio of it's energy and soon enough, the Rottenio was defeated.

"You girls are pretty good fighters, where did you learn moves like that?" Lime questioned as she dusted off her dress.

Fantasy drew out a sigh and then said, "Uh, you know we're actually Pre-"

"-My Rottenio! That was my strongest one yet! You girls are paying big time for what you did today." Durian declared before he vanished.

"He left before it was purified..." Bubbly remarked in surprise, staring at the bar stool once vacated by Durian.

Lime and Cherry walked up to the Rottenio and high-fived each other. Bubbly looked somewhat restless as she took a seat on one of the chairs lined up at the wall, under the belief that she and Fantasy should've been the ones purifying the Rottenio.

"Shouldn't purification be our job?" Bubbly pointed out, pouting as she folded her arms on top of the chair.

Fantasy put a hand on her teammates shoulder and gave her a look of sympathy saying," It's fine, we'll get way more chances for that once we get back home."

Lime and Cherry then joined hands as they shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Fruity bursting rejuvenation!"

The surrounding atmosphere turned into a blinding neon green and red and enveloped the entire diner. The light was so strong that Bubbly and Fantasy had to shield their eyes. Somehow, it felt as if they too were getting hit with the attack.

"It's on us!" Lime and Cherry declared in unison before they struck a pose.

"What do you think is going on?"Bubbly shouted as she used her arms to shield her eyes.

"I think we're getting sent back to our own time!" Fantasy responded, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to stand her ground.

The light soon dissipated and before the girls knew it, they were back in the storage room, their transformations reversed and seemingly back in their own time. Sophie and Mari looked at each other, giving the other a confused look. Things were quiet again, no loud music from upstairs, the storage room was as dusty and dark as before and, the girls couldn't hear much, if not any talking from upstairs.

"Mari, do you think everyone left without us?" Sophie questioned in a near frantic voice as she sprung to her feet," I don't wanna get locked up in here!"

Mari shook her head slowly and the girls began to walk back upstairs. The door to the main floor was open thankfully, and the girls found that quite a few employees had already left. The only people that were still here were Kiriko, Asuna, Ayaru and a few supervisors along with the manager.

To Mari and Sophie's surprise, nobody seemed even the slightest bit relieved that they had finally returned after being away for a good couple of hours. Instead, they were all kind of doing their own thing now. Kiriko was looking through the album, Asuna was playing a game on her PSP and Ayaru was doing homework. When they saw Sophie and Mari, they just waved to them casually.  
"Find anything?" Kiriko asked them as they walked over to the booth.

"Wha? We've been for hours and all you want to ask us 'find anything?' " Sophie asked incredulously as she took a seat at the booth.

Kiriko and Asuna looked at the two of them in question with the latter saying," You two were only gone for like fifteen minutes."

"Well, if it's only been fifteen minutes, where did everyone go?" Sophie pointed out as she waved her arms towards the empty cafe to punctuate her sentence.

"They went to the store down the street to get some board games to play here." Kiriko explained sheepishly," Anyways, so you guys didn't happen to find another album down there?"

Mari then remembered the photo she pocketed earlier of Ryoko, Aika and the unnamed girl and showed it to the girls. The girls all looked at the photo, confused and unsure of whom the third girl could be.

"Maybe...that girl knows something about this?" Kiriko suggested as she took her phone and dialed a number," Hey grandma, are you able to come to Echo? I have something I really need to show you here. I promise Aika isn't going to be there, and neither will her granddaughter. Ok, I'll see you soon."

Asuna then shot her a look just as soon as Kiriko hung up.

"What? It's not like she'd recognize you." Kiriko claimed, though Asuna, Sophie and Mari seemed to be thinking otherwise. Asuna then tied her hair up into a ponytail and threw on a pair of sunglasses she had in her bag and flashed a thumbs-up to Kiriko.

"That's a bit extreme..." Kiriko said under her breath," You should call your grandma up too, I feel like we can figure this out if both of them are here."  
"But how are we going to have them both here without them trying to kill each other?" Asuna questioned.

"We'll just make copies of the photo and show it to each of them from opposite ends of the cafe." Kiriko suggested as she ran to the back room to make copies of the picture.

Later, Ryoko and Aika had arrived at the cafe, with each of them sitting with their granddaughter at a booth in front of the picture. It didn't take any time at all for the two of them to recognize the third girl, much to Kiriko and Asuna's surprise.

"That's Hiyori! She was always a very good friend to me, up until she moved away. Then we simply lost touch." Ryoko explained as she pointed to the third girl in the photo," Yes, she was such a pleasant girl."

Aika however, didn't remember Hiyori as fondly as Ryoko did as simply shook her head at the sight of her saying," That Hiyori was the most despicable girl I've ever met. She used to be our friend but she went behind Ryoko's back and starting seeing her boyfriend. But, she did at least manage to keep Ryoko safe from that awful gang-leader. I had planned to talk to him in order to keep him away from Ryoko but.. I didn't have to. There was this one time when Hiyori couldn't keep her big mouth shut and she told everyone about the fight that Ryoko's boyfriend was going to have behind the school. But no one caught her and Hiyori pinned the blame on me. Ryoko didn't even believe me when I told her that Hiyori was involved with her man."

"So then what happened to Hiyori?" Asuna asked her.

"I had to leave for America, so I don't know what exactly became of them. I heard rumors that Hiyori and Ryoko's ex-boyfriend skipped town months later. I always thought that Ryoko would get over it but she was stubborn and had her heart set on him in spite of the fact that he wasn't a good person."

Aika's gaze then fell to the photo of her and Ryoko that didn't have Hiyori in it. She looked at it wistfully but then, she narrowed her eyes on something in the background.

"That's...Hiyori and Urokawa!" Aika shouted as she pointed to a pair outside in view of the window. Urokawa had his arms around her waist and the two were gazing into each other's eyes.

"This is my proof! I have to show it to Ryoko!" Aika exclaimed as she took a hold of the photo. Aika then stood up from her seat at the booth and then saw Ryoko and Kiriko at the other end of the cafe.

"Ryoko!" Aika said with a gasp as she walked over to the booth. Aika placed the photo of her Ryoko and pointed out Hiyori in the background. Everyone gathered around to see what Aika was pointing to. There were mixed reactions from the group. Sophie, Kiriko and Ayaru were surprised, Mari felt pity for Aika and Ryoko was just looking regretful. Ryoko pushed the photo away with a strained smile on her face.

"So it really was Hiyori..." Ryoko remarked as she looked at the photo," I have to confess something, take a seat Aika."

Aika did as told and so, Ryoko hesitantly began to speak," I didn't stop talking to you because I thought you broke me and Haru up. I did it because I felt ashamed for believing that you would go behind my back. I didn't think I deserved a friend like you after what I did and I felt guilty about it for a long time. I may have said some mean things earlier, but please know I didn't mean it. I'm sorry for telling you this after all this time."

Aika remained quiet for a while and only stared at the photo for a long period time," I don't want to accept your apology, I'd much prefer to pretend like none of this ever happened. Can we do that instead?"

"Sounds good to me!" Ryoko beamed as she put her arm around Aika's shoulder.


	18. Pages of wonder

Mari sat at the benches after her club session had ended and waited around for Kiriko to come. Today was going to be the day Kiriko returned her books, which was something Mari had secretly been excited about. Mari looked around and noticed that the front yard of the school was mostly empty of students. It was kinda relaxing to be sitting in a spot that was usually full of chattering people.

Mari then saw Kiriko walking out of the school with a club mate and waved to her. Kiriko waved back as she walked towards her.

"I'll see you later ok Shina?" Kiriko said, with Shina waving good-bye to her before she left. Kiriko then took a seat next to Mari and retrieved the two books from inside of her bag.

"Here are your books, thanks again for letting me borrow them." Kiriko said as she handed Mari the pair of books.

"No problem, did you like them?" Mari asked as she took a brief glance at the books, almost getting lost in the mesmerizing sparkly covers. Kiriko nodded casually and then looked both ways to make sure it was just the two of them around. Once Kiriko confirmed that it was only them, it was then she felt comfortable in voicing her thoughts about the book.

"It was amazing! The illustrations were all really, really pretty. But by the third book they looked sorta different. But anyways! I thought the books were great, I can see why you like them as much as you do." Kiriko replied, looking down at the books in Mari's hands. She missed them already, but maybe it wasn't that she was missing them but rather...feeling unsatisfied.

Despite all the work the girls put into finding the author, the girls had no leads at all on Satomi Miyazono. They decided they'd be better off quitting the search for the author since it wasn't getting anywhere. But it frustrated Kiriko knowing that this author was writing about the Kingdom and she probably had some information on Cure Cheer and Lilith.

"Is something wrong Kiriko?" Mari asked as she took notice of Kiriko staring at the books in her hands.

Kiriko was going to tell her everything was ok, but since Mari was a Pretty Cure now, it only made sense to tell her about their search for the author.

"Well, I guess I can tell you. So, part of the reason that I wanted to see these books is because..." Kiriko began before lowering her voice," They're about the kingdom and we figured the author had to have been from the kingdom and knew something Cure Cheer's era. You wouldn't happen to know the author, would you?"

Now Mari was feeling hesitant in responding, her gaze drifting to the side. She wasn't typically allowed to talk about this, but Kiriko was a Pretty Cure and so was she, so it seemed it would've been ok. Mari then took a deep breath and then said,  
"My mom wrote these books."

What was supposed to be a simple statement to get out in the open somehow turned into a visit to Mari's house, accompanied by Asuna, Sophie and the fairies of course, days later. Mari knew she shouldn't have been surprised as she was when Kiriko asked if they could meet her mom to, in Kiriko's words, 'just pick her brain'. Mari had yet to even mention the whole Pretty Cure things to her parents, and she hadn't really been planning on doing that. All she did mention was that she had encountered the Pretty Cure. So exactly how was she going to get Kiriko and the others to ask her about Cure Cheer without looking suspicious? Mari sighed as she led the group to her house after school. There were definitely going to be a lot of questions asked today, and not just from Kiriko and the girls.

Mari then started to fidget unconsciously with the necklace chain she was wearing. She looked down at the chain where the pendant once resided and felt an uneasy feeling settle into her. Her mom didn't even know about what happened to the pendant and she didn't want to change that. She told herself that everything would be ok and continued leading the group.

"So, is your mom a professional writer?" Sophie asked curiously as she walked next to Mari.

Mari shook her head and responded with," Not exactly. She works at a charity service, and the only books she's ever published are The Kingdom of Toys picture books."

Mari's tone was curt, as if she wanted to save the questions for later. She looked foward and realized it wouldn't be long until they reached her house.

The two of them started to make small talk, it was Sophie's way of trying to put Mari at ease upon noticing how tense the bespecled girl appeared. But, Asuna and Kiriko felt as if they were missing something as they watched the two girls speak as if they known each other for a long time.

 _"Well, I guess compared to people like Asuna and I, Mari seems a lot more approachable..."_ Kiriko said in her head, reminding herself how she thought Asuna was too much of a 'popular girl' to give her the time of day, and how her own personality could've been misread as 'distant'.

When they reached Mari's house, they found that Mari's parents were already home. Mari greeted them in her usual friendly tone and introduced the girls to her parents.

"This is Kiriko, Asuna and Sophie," Mari introduced, gesturing to each girl, " They wanted to learn about the Kingdom of Toys."

Mari gave her mom a look, hoping her voice was enough to imply what she was really talking about.

Mari's mother, Satomi seemed a bit confused for a few moments, but it was clear when she finally caught on.

"It's a pleasure to meet you! Come into my office, and we can talk more in detail." Satomi said as she gestured the girls down the hall, leaving her husband behind.

The girls were ushered into a room that was painted lavender with silver stars. It was rather spacious, with the only things inside the room being a desk, three books piled up on said desk, and an empty bookshelf.

Satomi took a seat behind the desk and was silent for a few moments, trying to gather her thoughts as she ran a hand through her sandy brown hair.

"Ok, so first I just want to say thank you girls for all your hard work so far, you have no idea how much you accepting to help our nation means to us." Satomi began as she took the hold of the book on the top of the pile, "So, as Mari told you guys, I wrote the lost kingdom of toys years ago. I wrote mainly because I wanted have something tangible of the kingdom after taking my leave, even if it I made it myself. I would get homesick often and I thought that since those from the human world had never even heard of the kingdom, I thought it'd make a good story." Satomi said as she opened up the book to a page that had one large drawing of the Laruan Kingdom castle.

"I'm assuming you guys haven't even been to the kingdom yet, but you already know about how everything works with the Patchwork Hearts and so forth, correct?" Satomi asked, with the girls nodding in response.

"Alright, then I guess I'll just skip to the good part." Satomi said as she took the bottom book out of the pile and flipped to the page where the Cure Cheer illustration was," Then I'll speak about Cure Cheer. I didn't know her in person but, I documented as much as I could about her."

"Cure Cheer was as powerful as she was mysterious. Rumors spread around that she came from a family of individuals with exceptionally strong magic, we call them Mages. This would've explained why her magic was so strong, even for a Pretty Cure. However, once she awoke as Cure Cheer, we didn't see her very often in the kingdom. Not until her final battle with Lilith at least." Satomi explained as she flipped to the next page in the book," As you girls know, Cure Cheer met her demise with Lilith years ago. But, even if she succeeded in defeating Lilith, her victory didn't bring peace to all the members of the kingdom. Many inhabitants were devastated by this loss and still worried about their own safety. This resulted in many families migrating into the human world, even though Lilith had seemingly disappeared."

"But, by leaving the Kingdom, the citizens couldn't divide their Patchwork hearts and live being friends with their chosen toy right? Were there really citizens who were ok with that?" Kiriko questioned intently.

"Some families were ok with that, most weren't but they made the most of their move by keeping their chosen toy by side, even if the human world wasn't any place for them to live in." Satomi explained, her gaze fall towards the page opened out on the book.

"Because a normal human would probably freak out if they saw one of them right?" Sophie asked, picturing her little siblings encountering a walking, talking teddy bear or even Rani and Nova.

"That's part of it." Satomi responded hesitantly," But anyways, the loss of Cure Cheer really did affect the kingdom, but no one from the royal family wanted to admit or dwell on it."

"Could it be because Cure Cheer was possibly a member of the royal family?" Kiriko suggested in an inquisitive voice, but Satomi didn't seem on board with the thought.

"The royal family would've announced that if she was, and they don't actually have very strong magic to begin with." Satomi said bluntly," To be honest, I don't even think they knew Cure Cheer's identity."

The girls fell silent for a few moments as they thought about of this. Kiriko was feeling a bit disappointed in today's findings since they didn't even learn who Cure Cheer was and exactly what she did to defeat Lilith back then. She thought about how the fight between her and Lilith wasn't even mentioned in Satomi's books. Kiriko figured it was just because it was meant to be a story for little kids but it made sense that not even Satomi knew what happened that day. Just like the other citizens of the kingdom, she was only an admirer. Well, an admirer who went as far as writing a book about Cheer.

"So, what made you come to earth? Was it for the same reason as the other citizens you mentioned?" Asuna then asked her. Kiriko then flashed a very disapproving look and Asuna paid no mind to her, only further annoying Kiriko.

Satomi looked at her wide-eyed, and then tried to think of how to properly respond to the question.

"I didn't become I was overtaken by fear, I came on my accord." Satomi explained hesitantly," I acted like a free spirit back in the day, and I never really listened to anyone..."

 _A girl with long bright lilac hair stood before a portal that seemed to lead into a pink and blue hyperspace. She grinned a large grin at the sight of it and clutched the empty book in her hands as she stared into the hyperspace. Just then, she heard a voice shout for her loudly, causing her to sigh at the sound of it. She turned slightly and saw a rather tall boy with identical features to her running towards her and the void._

 _"Skylar! You step away from that thing right this instant!" The boy cried out as he held his hand out. Skylar rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue at him._

 _"If I didn't listen to you back at home, what makes you think I'll listen to you here? I'm not going to say this again, I'm leaving." Skylar said once the boy came close enough to her," Geez, River, you think you'd be busy now that you're a royal guard but instead you're just following your sister around like some massive creep!"_

 _River rolled his eyes and then said after taking a deep breath," I can't let you leave the kingdom on a whim, royal guard or not."_

 _"This is not a whim! I'm going to write and document my life in the human world for everyone! I'm doing this for the good of the kingdom, and I'm still going to do it even if you say no." Skylar said to him. She turned around and was ready to take her leave, but then she felt River take a hold of her wrist._

 _"I'm going whether you like it or not." Skylar said, jerking herself free from his grip," I won't get in too much trouble, ok? I'll just be minding my business, going on about my day while I study the lives of these boring earthlings, alright? Don't worry, I'll only be gone for a little bit and then I'll come right back home!"_

 _"See you soon~!" Skylar said before she walked into the portal. She walked inside and found herself falling for a couple of moments, but she didn't feel any sense of fear, only excitement as she thought about what the human world would be like. Suddenly, she was expelled from the portal and fell into an alley. Skylar stood up and brushed herself off as she took in her surroundings. It was cloudy out and it felt humid, as if it was going to rain soon. It was also full of things she had never seen before. There were wire fences behind her and many strange contraptions of different that zoomed past the streets making the occasional noise for unknown reasons. It appeared that she didn't wind up in a very populated town, much to her displeasure. She then walked out of the alley and noticed that people were staring at her curiously. Skylar pretended she didn't notice their stares and simply looked down at her feet._

 _"I don't sense a lot of magic coming from this place." Skylar thought to herself," Could it be their sensing mine and they can tell I'm a foreigner?"_

 _"That has to be it!" Skylar thought to herself as she hit her fist against her other hand," I know what I have to do."_

"So basically, I came to write about how the lifestyles of humans on earth are very dull and wouldn't suit the tastes of those who lived in the Laruan kingdom." Satomi said to the girls in a candid tone as she closed up the book and pushed it away," My goal was persuade those from the kingdom to reconsider their choice in leaving for earth. I was in truth very against the idea of living on earth to the point that I told myself I'd do anything to convince people otherwise."

"So why did you reconsider?" Asuna questioned.

Satomi was about to answer but then her husband called for her.

"We have some visitors." He said as he peered his head through the doorway.

Satomi nodded and then stood up from her desk and said," How about you girls stay for dinner? I can continue the story then."

The girls nodded in response and then Satomi left the girl's alone in her office. They sat in silence for a few moments thought about Satomi's explanation.

Nobody seemed willing to voice their opinions, so Sophie was the one to break the ice and said, "Well, I mean it's a good thing we found our writer."

Mari nodded in agreement, but Kiriko and Asuna didn't appear as relieved. If anything, today had felt anticlimactic in a way.

Kiriko did nothing but mentally chide herself for thinking that uncovering these mysteries about Cure Cheer would be so easy. Asuna however, was still thinking about Satomi's story and trying to decide if there was more to her side of the story, maybe something she didn't want to say.

"Hey Mari, what else did you have planned for today?" Kiriko then asked.

"Um, for today?" Mari repeated hesitantly," _All I really had planned was to have the girls talk to my mom, but that doesn't mean we can do something else!"_

Mari then stood up from her seat as she suggested, "We could work on homework together, or I could put on a movie or maybe we could..."

"Could we go to the book-store?" Kiriko asked, sounding a bit forceful in her tone, but no one picked up on it," I wanted to see something there."

Mari nodded and responded with," There's a strip mall down the street from here with a pretty big book-store. We can go to that one if you'd like."

Kiriko nodded and the girls then stood up from their seats, gathering their bags and following Mari out of the room. Mari lead the girls out of the house and took notice that neither of her parents were in the living room. She figured they might have been in the kitchen or the backyard, so continued to lead they way. Though despite the fact that she was the one leading the way, Mari felt just as puzzled as the other girls in regards to them going to the book-store. Kiriko seemed quite intent on going, even though she seemed rather lost in her thoughts now.

The walk there was indeed a short one and before the girls knew it, they had already arrived at the book-store. Mari stood in front of the group with a rather pleased smile appearing onto her face. She hadn't been here in a couple of weeks, and yet that felt like ages to her. Mari looked up to the store-sign that read, ' Tsundoku' and exhaled a sigh at the sight of it.

As she opened the door, a set of younger girls who appeared to be no older than nine walked out of the store.

"I can't wait to finish these books!" One of the girls said while she scrambled to retrieve one of the books out of her bag," The covers are really sparkly too!"

The girls looked at the child suspiciously as she walked away, but none of them thought much of what she said and walked inside.

The bookstore was extremely big, it was almost an overwhelming sight for people like Sophie and Asuna, who didn't often step into book-stores. There were aisles and aisles overflowing with books and there were more people than the girls expecting inside the store. It was surprising to say the least, but it made Mari and Kiriko feel hopeful. Kiriko then took over and lead the girls over to the section farthest from the entrance.

As the girls were walking, Sophie noticed that Asuna was staring at countless books they walked across with a bewildered look on her face. Sophie was a bit more used to the sight since the library at her school was rather big, so she then started to wonder if this was Asuna's first time in a book-store.

Kiriko then stopped in front of a section that had more room between the aisles and had toys for purchase in it. The books in this aisles were much shorter in length and colourful in comparison to the rest of the other books in the store and there were many little kids around with their parents, picking out books to buy.

"We're in the kids section..." Asuna stated as she looked around the aisles.

Kiriko nodded and then walked up to a table that had a set of books sitting on it. There was a sign that read 'featured books' on it and so, Kiriko started to look for something as she scanned through the books on the table. Mari and Sophie exchanged glances before they followed Kiriko to the table. Kiriko's eyes then widened and she held up the book she had been looking for. The book was the first installment to the Lost Kingdom of Toys.

"There's only one left..." Kiriko remarked as she held the book up and opened it before looking over to the girls," Pretty impressive for a first release from a new author."

"Huh? I thought these books had been out for years." Sophie asked as she and Asuna turned to Mari in confusion.

Mari shook her head and then Kiriko closed the book saying," It only got released this year. It says on the first page of the book."

"Those books were originally for me to connect with the Kingdom. My mom had plans to release them for everyone to read but, when Cure Cheer was defeated, she didn't want to do it anymore. But then, once Lilith reappeared, my mom started feeling hopeless and so to fight that feeling... she went and finally released the books to the public." Mari explained briskly, lowering her gaze to the floor.

"That's why I couldn't find the two installments that came after. They just hadn't been released yet." Kiriko explained as she inspected the book cover," When you said you read the books as a child, I wanted to think you were mistaking it for another series. But then, when you gave me the next two books, I tried hard to figure out why you already had them."

"But Kiriko, why would you ask to borrow the books if you knew they weren't released yet?" Rani asked as she poked her head out of Kiriko's bag.

"I didn't actually know they hadn't been released yet." Kiriko admitted sheepishly," I saw their cover art on the back of this book and just assumed they were already out."

Just then, a little girl stood beside Kiriko, stretching her arm out as she said," Please don't buy that book! It's the last one and I came really far to get it!"

Kiriko was startled as the girl tugged on her blazer and so, Kiriko knelt down and gave the girl the book saying," I hope you enjoy it!"

The little girl looked excited as she held the book in her small hands, holding it up above her face and smiling at the cover. Kiriko smiled as she watched the girl run off in search of her mom before she noticed that she wasn't the only kid with a copy of The Lost Kingdom of Toys. Most of the little kids in the section were holding a copy, some of them were looking at the illustrations on the cover while others were crowding around it with their friends. They all seemed to be of different ages but they were united in how they looked at and read the book. They wore these ecstatic, awe-struck look on their faces as they held their copies of the book and the girls were at a loss of words as they watched what was happening before their eyes.

"Even though your mother felt hopeless when she was publishing these books, she's keeping the tale of the kingdom alive and bringing hope to everyone..." Kiriko exhaled as looked around," These books might have been written as if the kingdom was just supposed to be make-believe, but it's quite obvious it's real to them."

"I think your mom wanted to finally publish these books now so that in the case that her home would disappear, it would live on here on Earth..." Asuna stated as she looked at the empty spot where the stack of the 'Lost Kingdom of Toys' were.

"I think these books were really well-written and it shows how much your mom cared about the kingdom. You should be proud of her!" Sophie beamed as she put a hand on Mari's shoulder.

Mari was quiet for a few moments and then nodded in response.

Elsewhere at Asperity, Bounce had been caught housing the cat she rescued from park. Bounce stood with her cat, Katrina, in her arms as she watched Jack inspect Katrina. Bounce narrowed her eyes at him, though Jack paid no mind to her.

"Bounce why the heck do you have this critter with you?" Jack finally questioned as he knelt down to look the cat in the eyes.

Domino wasn't even fit to confront Bounce along with his brother as he kept sneezing every couple of seconds a few feet away from them.

"Why should it matter?" Bounce snapped as she held Kat tighter," She isn't taking up space and she's way better company than you two goons!"

"Well, whatever reason you got, it's gonna be the death of Domino so you gotta let it go." Jack stated firmly, though Domino didn't seem interested,"And I doubt Lilith is going to like your feline friend."

"Are you kidding me? She's probably been in a real good mood ever since she found that well." Bounce pointed out as she held on tighter to Katrina.

"Yeah right, something probably went wrong. Lilith hasn't left her room in days." Jack reminded her in a snide tone," We even heard her talking to herself about the well not working as it was supposed to. Isn't that right, Domino?"

Bounce and Jack then turned to see Domino and hear his response, but he had disappeared and left without a word. The two of them stared blankly at the spot Domino once vacated, with unimpressed looks on their faces.

"He ran away..." Bounce stated, though she didn't sound very surprised by this.

"You know it was probably because of your cat right?" Jack said, still looking at the vacant spot as the cat meowed.

Mari and Kiriko started looking through books in the kids section, with Kiriko having just about the same amount of enthusiasm as all the other kids in aisle. Initially, she felt worried that Mari would judge her for being invested in these books but when she noticed that Mari didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest, Kiriko let herself at the books without any regrets. She surveyed the aisles and stared at the selection of books before her while Mari just accompanied her in looking at the books.

Asuna and Sophie were sitting at a table with a pair of bags beside it in the coffee-shop inside of the book store as they watched the little kids from before run out of the store, holding their copies of the 'Lost Kingdom of Toys' up high in excitement.

"I've never seen kids get so excited because of some books." Asuna remarked as she took a sip from the cup of iced coffee in front of her.

"Yeah, I guess it's become an uncommon thing these days..." Sophie stated, keeping her gaze on the group of kids through the window," But, surely you must understand their excitement right? I mean, you did buy that graphic novel today."

Asuna looked down at the bag, and only felt embarrassment as she saw the cover through the transparent bag.

"Sorta..." Asuna replied awkwardly as she brought her gaze back to Sophie.

Suddenly, the two of them saw a giant rocking horse outside of the book-store glowering down at the group of kids. The kids backed away and began to run in the opposite direction, but the rocking horse didn't appear to be too happy with that though and so it rocked back and forth, which somehow caused the earth beneath them to quake. The kids fell to their feet and were unable to stand up again before Domino jumped in front of them with a set of black spheres in hand. Though he didn't appear to be in top shape with his nose red and runny and his eyes watering.

"You kids will be perfect sub-hosts for my Defective." Domino remarked before a loud sneeze erupted out from him," Good grief, I thought getting away from that horrendous cat would make my allergic reaction did down."

Domino then threw the set of black spheres towards the kids and they merged with them, causing them all lose consciousness.

Domino was quite pleased by his work but then he saw a set of familiar girls standing before him and his mood turned sour.

"Targeting kids who just want to sharpen their wits through reading is absolutely not ok!" Kiriko yelled as she and the girl's held up their Playpacts," Your fun ends now."

"Pretty Cure, its Playtime!" The four of them shouted in unison.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"

"The sailor of Justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"

The Pretty Cure then split themselves up into two teams, Dolly was with Teddy and Bubbly was with Fantasy. Bubbly and Fantasy darted towards the Defective at full speed and jumped up on top of the Defective. The Defective was infuriated that the Cures were standing on it, so it attempted to buck them off.

Bubbly and Fantasy then each took hold of the Defective's ears and looked towards each other.

"Ready?" Bubbly asked with Fantasy nodding in response. The two of them then grabbed an ear tightly and jumped off while attempting to flip the Defective. The Cures were successful and the Defective was now spiralling towards Dolly and Teddy. Teddy leapt up and Dolly sent it flying up to her with a very powerful kick.

Teddy was just about to send it into the ground but then the Defective charged towards her in midair. Teddy dodged through jumping up higher and took a hold of its ears. But unlike her fellow Cures, she wasn't able to withstand the Defective's attempts to throw her off.

"Pretty Cure, Bubbling impact!" Bubbly shouted, her newly made attack causing a giant bubble to appear underneath Teddy to break her fall.

Teddy marveled at the bubble that was formed under her and pressed her hand against it, clearly surprised that it didn't burst apart once she fell on it.

"I'm really sorry Teddy! I didn't expect it to do something like that!" Dolly clamored as she and the other Cures ran over to her.

"It's fine, but that was some quick thinking from you though. Did you have that plan in mind for a while or something?" Teddy asked as she jumped off the bubble.

Dolly shook her head and she said," A rocking horse is a pretty simple object, and it's movements seem rather…limited."

The Pretty Cure then looked at the Defective, to see exactly what Dolly was talking about. Dolly was right, it appeared the Defective could do nothing more than rock back and forth.

"So are you trying to say that this is going to be an easy match?" Teddy asked as she cracked her knuckles.

The Defective then rocked to and fro again, causing another tremor. The Cures jumped up high and took refuge on top of the book-store.

"If it keeps doing that, we won't get a chance to fight it on the ground!" Bubbly shouted as the Defective continued to create the tremors.

"Then let's fight somewhere else!" Fantasy suggested as leapt up off the book store, " How's about a giant cloud?"

Fantasy then clapped her hands and the area around changed from the book-store parking lot to a literal giant cloud. The Cures took in their surroundings and were shocked by what just happened. Teddy and Bubbly appeared confident that Fantasy's plan would work, but Dolly appeared to be thinking differently.

" _Fantasy can only make things look different, so I don't know if her powers will work here. Plus creating something like this would have to tire her out quickly…"_ Dolly thought to herself as she looked around the cloud warily.

The Defective quickly took notice of this change in scenery and curiously stared down at the ground. It didn't seem likely that the Defective's powers would work here and so, the Defective had no clue on how it would be able to fight on this terrain.

Teddy then dashed towards the Defective excitedly as she set fire to her fists. The Defective was still trying to figure out how it was going to fight here and paid little attention to Teddy, which probably wasn't the best idea.

"Pretty Cure, flame of hope!" Teddy shouted, blasting a pair of flames towards the Defective. The Defective didn't dodge in time and was hit head on by the flames. Teddy seemed quite pleased with herself as she watched her attack hit the Defective. Bubbly then skipped over to it and jumped up cheerfully. The sound of her heeled rubber boots was quite audible and sounded as if she had jumped against the concrete. Dolly noticed and wondered if the Defective did as well. She looked up towards it and saw that the Defective had caught on, much to her displeasure.

"How about we cool you down?" Bubbly offered, holding her hands up high.

She was just about to attack, but the Defective looked ready to rock back and forth again. Dolly then charged in, holding her hands in front of herself as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, wishful cyclone!"

A pair of violet and pink tornados circled out from her hands and trapped the Defective between. The Defective was blown up high and was thrown up in the air by the powerful winds. It was up in the air for quite awhile and it seemed unable to break free from the pair of tornados. The tornados were unrelenting and strong, so strong that even the Cures (aside from Dolly) had issues standing their ground against it. After a few moments, the Defective fell back on the ground. Teddy and Bubbly stared at the Defective that laid motionless in front of Dolly. Dolly took a few deep breaths and stared down at the Defective.

"That was close..." She said to herself, heaving in her breaths.

Teddy and Bubbly exchanged glances and just then, the atmosphere around them reverted to normal. Fantasy was found on her knees trying to catch her breath and Bubbly came rushing to her side to see if she was ok.

"Are you alright?" Bubbly asked as she placed a hand on Fantasy's shoulder. Fantasy nodded though Bubbly didn't seem convinced as she knelt down next to her.

"Don't overdo it next time ok?" Bubbly said in a lower voice as she looked over to Dolly and Teddy.

Teddy then walked over to Dolly, who was still trying to make sure that the Defective had been defeated as she said," Wanna purify it together?"

Dolly nodded and the two of them held their hands out in front of the Defective.

"Pretty Cure, Charming Enchant!" They shouted in unison, causing the atmosphere around them to turn purple and gold in mid-sentence. The Defective was cleansed and returned to it's original form.

Domino didn't seem too upset about his loss for once, it appeared he had long lost interest in the battle and was now finishing the picture book, the Lost Kingdom of Toys to be exact, he had found on the parking lot ground. He appeared to be rather unimpressed, narrowing his eyes at the book in question before he slammed it shut.

"An interesting work of fiction." Domino remarked flatly," I say fiction because I know it's supposed to be based off the Laruan Kingdom but some things are amiss in this book. I believe this is what you call a bad case of an unreliable narrator. I mean, no mention of Theo and nothing regarding- Nevermind, I won't waste my breath on you kids. Believe what you want, but just remember this is nothing more than a tale of make-believe. A story riddled with lies really."

Domino then disappeared and left the book behind.

The Cures were a bit unnerved by what Domino said, the group falling silent as they reversed their transformations. Kiriko could feel the air around her friends grow tense, so she tried her best to take their mind off things.

"Well, maybe he's onto something but I don't think that Mari's mom was deliberately hiding anything. She said herself that she didn't even know Cure Cheer in person so...we can't just assumed we've been lied to or anything like that." Kiriko stated, taking note of the fact that the girls appeared less on edge. Though Kiriko hadn't been convinced by her own words.

They all started walking back to Mari's house, chatting among themselves casually during their walk.

"By the way Mari, I've been meaning to ask you..." Kiriko said slowly,"...I noticed that the drawings from the first and second book are dramatically different from the third book. Did your mom pick a new illustrator for the third book?"

"Yeah, something happened between my mom and the original illustrator but I've never really asked her about it." Mari explained sheepishly," I think they had some creative disagreements."

Kiriko nodded in understanding and the girls continued to walk to Mari's house.

Lilith stood in front of a figure obscured by shadows, straightening up the shadow's clothes as she inspected them from head to toe. The figure was about the same height as her, maybe an inch or so taller. They weren't as petite as Lilith though and had a more hour-glass build to them. Lilith thought she would feel excited if she ever had a new addition to her team at Asperity, but something felt off right now. Perhaps it was because she had yet to see her new commander in action.

"Even though I might not look like it, I'm very, very happy you're a part of my team." Lilith said once she finished straightening the figure's clothes," Never did I ever expect to find someone like yourself and have you on my side, yet here you stand before me."

The figure then finally opened their eyes, revealing them to be a turquoise colour with their scleras the colour black.

"You represent new beginnings, a soldier of cataclysm. Your name is Rubix." Lilith declared to the figure.


	19. Newspapers and friendships

Chinami stretched her arms out in the empty school yard, looking straight at the track before her. She was intent on circling the giant track a couple of times today, even if she would've preferred jogging this morning. Usually, afternoon jogs were something that she looked forward to, but the idea of having someone from school around without her knowing made her quite tense. It was a lot less likely for a student to be here in the morning but unfortunately, Chinami wasn't much of a morning person. Chinami then looked around, ensuring that nobody was in sight.

"I'm sure nobody will notice since I'm running." Chinami reassured herself, though she didn't feel convinced in her words as she tied up her ponytail. Once her hair was in a ponytail, streaks of electric yellow and periwinkle could be seen in her hair.

The classroom where student-council would be held was unusually quiet today, despite the fact that all the members, except for the president were in the classroom right now. The younger representatives in first and second year were staring at the classroom door in anticipation while the third years seemed a bit less interested and made better use of their time by studying.

Kiriko and Tadashi appeared to have been one of the few who were waiting about anxiously, but they were able to at least try and work on some homework. Kiriko was working away at one of her assignments while Tadashi had taken a break from his work and started staring at the clock on the classroom wall.

"Hayase's been gone awhile, think he's trying to make some kinda appeal?" Tadashi wondered aloud as he pressed his fist against his cheek.

Kiriko then joined him in looking at the clock and only responded with," He isn't foolish enough to do something like that on his own. Maybe he just has to sign some formal documents."

Just then, Hayase entered the room and all eyes were on him. Everyone in the class was looking at him expectantly and Hayase then took a deep breath as he tried to collect his thoughts. After a few moments he finally said to his team,

"It didn't go through."

The third and second years looked disappointed and shook their heads, but they knew Hayase was not to blame. They had fallen quiet while the first years wasted no time in speaking their minds about the matter.

"But that isn't fair! Our petition was filled with signatures! Our school wants a newspaper club, whether they like it or not." A first-year class representative, Osashi, declared in a resolute voice," We can't give up!"

"They didn't even offer a compromise of sorts? That's pretty indecent of them." A second-year class representative, Misato, remarked as he jotted notes into his notebook.

"Osashi is right, we shouldn't just call it quits now. The students have expressed interest in a newspaper club so it's only fair that the student council does their part and help them get this club approved." Tadashi stated, with members of the council nodding in response.

"Ok, Kiriko, Tadashi, Misato and Shina. You guys stay here, the rest of you are dismissed." Hayase declared, taking note of Osashi's displeasure in this before he added," All the dismissed members will be tasked with thinking of compromise options we can appeal with to the principal."

The dismissed members nodded in approval, and walked out of the classroom. A good portion of the dismissed members seemed rather pleased in getting to leave early, but the rest of them looked rather unhappy as they took their leave, feeling like if anyone should be staying, it should've been them.

Kiriko opened up her notebook again and read through the notes on her page for the umpteenth time today. Today was supposed to be the day when the principal would approve of the newspaper club. Normally, a club didn't need approval from the principal or faculty but because the newspaper club was going to be requiring a few extra resources, the principal had to oversee it and make the decision. It was frustrating to see that the club had been denied, but Kiriko knew she likely wasn't the most upset member of the council. It didn't bother her as much since she didn't have much time left at the school anyways. The thought of that made her a bit uneasy though.

"We need to think of some way to make the principal permit the newspaper club." Hayase stated as he stood behind the podium in the classroom," We need something innovative, something that he won't be able to deny."

"Ooh, I have an idea!" Shina exclaimed cheerfully as she raised up her hand," Let's place a curse on the faculty."

"Shina, we're not doing that." Hayase responded briefly, returning to looking through his notes from the principal as he leaned against the podium.

"Oh come on! It'll work wonders for our case." Shina claimed in her defense as she stood up from her seat," Imagine this, you're a lowly high-school principal just getting by in life by frustrating your student body when all of a sudden- 'Oh no! I've receiving nothing but mysterious scary omens and my crops are all dying on meeeee!' "

"Shina, just shut up." Hayase said flatly, not even lifting his gaze from his notes.

"Shina you need to stop referencing those period dramas you keep watching 'cuz nobody can follow what you're saying..." Tadashi advised her sheepishly.

"Why did you get chosen to stay behind?" Misato muttered under his breath as he briefly looked up from his notes to glare at Shina.

"Well, did the principal give you any reason as to _why_ we can't have a newspaper club?" Kiriko asked curiously," Aside from the added expenses of it."

Hayase then exhaled a sigh and said," He's worried it'll be a waste of time if the students aren't actually that interested in it."

"Did he not see the petition filled with signatures on it?" Misato asked sarcastically as he narrowed his eyes at Hayase.

The rest of the group didn't seem to be following so Hayase had to elaborate and said," The principal is under the impression that the students aren't going to be as interested in the newspaper club once it gets approved and it'll be a waste of time to approve it. He doesn't believe the students are actually passionate about starting a newspaper club."

"Well, with not much sense in direction or experience in journalism, can you really blame him?" Shina stated in a candid tone," If the club doesn't do well, that'll only discourage them."

"Hm...what they need is a club president whose super passionate about the written word! Someone who will get the team motivated to work hard and carry on." Kiriko claimed in a determined voice, with some of the council members nodding in agreement.

"Do we know anybody like that at Ikoma?" Shina asked skeptically, looking around the room to see if her fellow members had any suggestions.

The group was silent for a couple of moments as they tried to think of someone who fit Kiriko's description.

"What about Nanae Izumi?" Misato suggested thoughtfully, finally letting his gaze meet the rest of the council," She's a well-established figure in our school, and from what I've seen she's a very good reporter."

"That's a great idea!" Kiriko exclaimed, her face lighting up at the suggestion," I'm sure she'd love to be a member of the newspaper club. But...now that I think about it, I haven't heard much about her news channel recently."

"Gee, I wonder why..." Tadashi remarked in a sarcastic tone, crossing his arms as he side-eyed Hayase, who burrowed his nose into his notebook," As nice as it'd be to have Nanae lead the newspaper club, it's probably not happen."

The rest of the council seemed a bit confused, and felt out of the loop, leading Kiriko to ask," Did something happen to Nanae?"

"Well, after Nanae had gone to try and publicly embarrass you on her channel like that, a certain student council member took it upon themselves to set her straight, and she hasn't made an update to her channel ever since." Tadashi explained, as Hayase continued to hide his face behind the notebook.

Shina was giggling and Misato only seemed unapproving of Hayase's actions, while Kiriko was stunned and not entirely sure as to why Hayase would even think to do something like that.

Kiriko then reminded herself of the issue at hand and then asked,"So, what has she been doing?"

Nanae was sitting at a bench near to the school, humming to herself as she looked at the school doors expectantly. She was playing with her hair and was debating on whether she should place a little braid into it, despite the fact that she wasn't very good at braiding. Nanae then sighed, silently cursing herself for not asking Chinami to make a braid for her before she left for her afternoon jog. She then adjusted her pigtails, making sure they were even and looking nice, before she removed her phone from her bag. She then put the phone on recording mode and started to record her surroundings.

"He's running late..." Nanae said to herself with a sigh as she positioned the phone in front of the school doors before she fidgeted with the bows that secured her pigtails," Oh wait, he's coming out now!"

Exiting the school was Nanae's former cameraman Rikido coming out of the school, drinking from a water bottle before he waved to Nanae. Nanae wore a giant grin on her face at the sight of him and ran towards him as quickly as she could.

"Babe I missed you~!" Nanae said as she hugged him as tight as she could, pressing her head against his chest. Nanae shut her eyes for a moment and Rikido looked a bit surprised to see Nanae here, but he didn't complain.

"I said you could go home without me today." Rikido said sheepishly as Nanae broke the hug," But, thanks for waiting up. You really didn't have to."

The two of them then walked home holding hands, unaware that the members of the student council saw them leaving the school. The members all hid behind the school building, exchanging confused expressions as they watched them walk together.

The next day, Kiriko was walking to school with Asuna and Mari, explaining her predicament to them. Usually, she would've been more considerate and kept this a private thing, but since Nanae didn't seem to have any problems flaunting her new relationship, Kiriko figured she didn't need to skim out on details.

"I want to ask her about it, but I don't know how she'd feel getting approached by me..." Kiriko confessed as she stared at the sidewalk," I might not know Nanae that well but, it still seems out of character for her to put her news work aside in favour for a relationship."

Asuna shrugged, lacing her hands behind her head as she closed her eyes, saying," Without her sticking her nose into everything, the school's gotten a lot more peaceful. Would you really want the old Nanae back anyways?"

Kiriko seemed a bit uncertain and responded with," Maybe? I mean...yes Nanae is a bit, eccentric. But she's good at what she does, I think it's probably better to try and talk to her before we draw any conclusions."

Mari nodded in agreement and then said," Maybe she's just trying to find something to keep her sidetracked. I mean, if I got in trouble for doing what I loved at school, I know I'd steer of it for a while."

The girls then arrived at the front of the school and parted ways to their classrooms. Kiriko walked over to her locker to put away her bag, but then she noticed a note tucked in the corner. Kiriko removed the note from out of her locker and read it to herself.

"If you want to know about what happened to Nanae's channel, please meet me after school beside the tables." Kiriko read aloud. The note seemed awfully suspicious with no mention of the writer's name. But, Kiriko wasn't paying too much attention to that and instead was texting Hayase and Tadashi about the note and what was written on it. It did bother her that she didn't know who the writer of the note was as the day dragged on.

By the end of the day, Kiriko could be found sitting with Hayase and Tadashi at the tables where the note writer said to meet them. An awkward silence was starting to form amongst the three of them as they patiently waited around. Tadashi was playing a game on his phone while Hayase was studying and Kiriko was looking around to see if their person was coming, though she knew it wouldn't do her much good if she didn't know who they were.

Kiriko then decided to stand up from her seat and said to the boys," I'm just gonna get a drink a water."

Once Kiriko was out of earshot, the boys seemed less tense and felt as if they were free to talk about things outside of student council. Tadashi exhaled a large sigh and bashed his head against the tabletop.

"Don't you think this seems sorta shady?" Tadashi questioned in a nagging tone, not even lifting his head from the table," I mean, how that person even know we were interested in having Nanae as our news club president?"

Hayase shrugged and didn't say a word, only keeping his gaze on his textbook. Tadashi narrowed his eyes at Hayase, unimpressed with his response as he looked up to the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight and it was a really nice day, a day that he'd rather take advantage of by doing something way more fun than getting "intel", as Hayase called it, about one of the more annoying girls at the school.

Tadashi then returned his gaze back to earth and then noticed something on Hayase that made his eyes widen greatly.

"When did you get your ears pierced?" Tadashi questioned loudly, causing Hayase to shush him immediately.

"Not so loud! Kiriko might hear you, I want her to notice them on her own..." Hayase declared bashfully, averting his gaze from Tadashi," Besides, they're just magnetics."

Rolling his eyes, Tadashi shook his head once Hayase continued with his studying. His best friend, despite being as smart as he was, doubled as one of the most clueless people he had ever met. Tadashi pressed his fist against his cheek as he stared at Hayase.

 _"He's so dense! I'm not surprised he didn't seem suspicious when I mentioned that special someone liked pierced ears."_ Tadashi thought to himself _," And of course, he's got the wrong girl in mind."_

Once Kiriko returned from getting her drink of water, she walked back to the table and noticed a familiar figure walking towards her fellow council members. Kiriko narrowed her eyes at the person, feeling as if she had seen them before, but it was a bit difficult to figure out when.

The boys looked up and saw Chinami standing before at the table, urging her to take a seat.

"I take it you're the one who sent Kiriko the note?" Tadashi asked nonchalantly while Chinami fixated her gaze on the top of the table. Chinami nodded rigidly and heard footsteps walking over to their table. She looked up and saw Kiriko walking to the table. Kiriko smiled to Chinami politely and took a seat next to her.

"You're Nanae's friend Chinami, right?" Kiriko asked with a nod from Chinami," Ok so, tell us everything you can. Your help means a lot to us."

"Alright well...it all started when she had that talk with Hayase..." Chinami began briskly, as she unwilling met the gaze of her upperclassmen. Already this was beginning to feel like a mistake to her as she spoke about what happened.

 _Nanae was a mess of emotions as she sat with Chinami and lamented about her talk with Hayase moments ago. Chinami put a firm hand on her shoulder and tried to calm her down as Nanae vented to her without any regrets._

 _"He is such a complete and total jerk! I can't believe I ever thought liked him. Who does he think he is, telling me what I can and can't ask my interviewees." Nanae said in a huff before she folded her arms and place her head atop of them._

 _"It's ok, you just have to be more mindful of your work and who you're interviewing, I'm sure Mitarashi meant no harm when he confronted you." Chinami reassured, before she took noticed of the expression Nanae's face skewed into as she lifted her head back up. Chinami offered her a look of question._

 _"My only question is, why was he so defensive for Kiriko? Why did he feel the need to defend her honor like that?" Nanae asked in a frustrated tone as she took a deep breath._

 _Chinami kept her mouth shut, not wanting to point out the obvious and instead stood up while saying," I'm gonna get us some drinks from the vending machines. A can of milk soda, right?"_

 _Nanae nodded and so Chinami left to get the drinks. Chinami's head was swimming with thoughts as she tried to think of better ways to tend to Nanae's broken spirits. She hadn't ever seen her best friend so upset and that was saying something considering Nanae was a rather emotional individual. Chinami had considered a few things to take Nanae's mind off things, but, some of her ideas had stemmed from her own methods of cheering herself up and therefore probably wouldn't have worked as well for Nanae. Chinami then thought about that look she saw on Nanae's face and felt a shiver crawl her spine. That look of sheer animosity upon talking about Kiriko, it made Chinami feel uneasy and a lot more worried for Nanae._

 _Chinami bought a can of milk soda and a bottle of vitamin water for herself. Chinami smiled as she held the can of milk soda and walked back to the spot where she and Nanae were sitting. Chinami then stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her and Nanae's friend Rikido sitting next to her. Chinami was going to approach them but, all of a sudden, she felt out of place and took refuge behind a set of trees._

 _"I feel so embarrassed! I want to continue my interviews but, I feel so out of it...like I just don't have it in me to create right now." Nanae confessed, her tone a lot less aggressive and more dismal," I don't wanna stop making content for my channel but...I just don't know what to do."_

 _Nanae rested her head on Rikido's shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around Nanae's shoulder. Rikido nodded in understanding and the two fell quiet for a few moments._

 _"You know, there's a bunch of other things you can do beside interviewing. I know you love interviewing very much, to the point where you joined the video club just as an excuse to host them but...there's still some other fun stuff out there that I'm sure you'd be good at." Rikido said softly in a reassuring voice," For example, there's the whole video-making process. I know you weren't that interested when you joined the club but if you gave me an afternoon, I can show some tricks and other cool stuff about video shooting."_

 _Nanae slowly removed her head from Rikido's shoulder and stared at him for a few moments as she tried to reach a decision._

 _"Ok, show me the ropes." Nanae responded imperatively as she looked at Rikido straight in the eyes._

"And so, Nanae originally intended to just learn how to shoot videos but Rikido asked her out a few weeks ago and the two are now...an item." Chinami explained, tapping her fingers against the tabletop, unnerved as the word rolled off her tongue," Nanae hasn't felt like herself lately and I think she just wants feel like she's doing something worthwhile."

Kiriko, Hayase and Tadashi nodded in understanding.

Chinami continued to speak in her best friend's defense, saying," For the record, I'm not upset with you for having a talk with her, Mitarashi. I think she just took it too personally. Nanae might seem like a really bad person sometimes but I swear she means well and I'm sure she'd love to be a part of your newspaper club. Would you like me to ask her about it?"

Tadashi shook his head and answered, "No, it's ok. I think it'd be easier if we took care of it, since we're the ones who are pitching the idea to the princi-"

"-Actually, I think you should come along with us to ask her. Does tomorrow work for you?" Kiriko asked after she clamped Tadashi's mouth shut with her hand, receiving a confused look from Tadashi.

"Yeah, that sounds good! I'll meet up with you guys here after school tomorrow ok?" Chinami declared as she stood up from the bench and gathered her things. She left and waved goodbye to them, with only Kiriko waving back to her.

"Why should she tag along?" Tadashi asked suspiciously once Kiriko drew her hand away from his mouth.

"Well, she is really close with Nanae. She'd probably know better than anyone else about how to get through to her." Kiriko explained candidly before hesitantly saying," And...I don't think she's been talking to Nanae a lot lately since she's been devoting all her time to Rikido. I think Chinami misses her."

Tadashi saw her point and nodded in agreement after a few moments while Kiriko continued to think about Chinami's story.

Chinami stretched and stretched her legs at the front of the track, now wearing her gym clothes and wearing her hair in a low ponytail. She wanted to make sure she'd be top condition for a good, long run and wanted to avoid a leg cramp at all costs. Not only that, Chinami wanted to avoid cramping, so she wouldn't have to lose out her jog where she spent her time just listening to her music and not thinking about her current problems.

Chinami sat still for a few moments and took her hair down from the ponytail, only to put it back into the same style, only tighter. She was zoning out as she thought about Nanae.

 _It was middle-school and it had been a few weeks since Chinami transferred to this school. Chinami was all by herself, sitting at her desk as she watched her classmates talk amongst each other. Soon class would begin and the attendance would be taken, something that made Chinami always feel unsettled. It wasn't easy being at the top of the list with a weird last name. It made her dread roll call and if anything, it just reminded her how she felt like an outsider amongst her classmates._

"Why did have to move to Japan? Things were so much easier back home..." _Chinami thought to herself as she drew a small picture of a cardinal in her notebook. Chinami smiled at the drawing, even if it didn't look as expected. She then started to listen in on her classmates' conversations once they reached a volume that made it impossible for others to tune them out._

 _"Hey have you guys already picked your partners for the team project? I'm thinking of asking Yasuhiro to be my partner!" One girl whispered to her group of friends._

 _"You're going to abandon me? Fine, just don't let me get paired up with the new girl. She's so intimidating!" One of the other girls said, with the group beginning to laugh in response._

 _Chinami's face turned red and she felt frustration overcome her as she tried to tune out the girls. Her heart felt like it was sinking and before she could further dwell on the subject, one of her classmates walked up next to her desk._

 _"Are you ok?" The girl, a middle-school Nanae, asked her. Chinami was quiet and only nodded in response._

 _"Abate, right? Did you wanna be my partner for the team project?" Nanae questioned, offering her a genuine smile. Chinami was at a loss of words as she stared down Nanae before she nodded again and said excitedly,_

 _"Absolutely!"_

Chinami pressed her hand against the back of her neck, reliving a kind of loneliness she hadn't felt in years. Nanae had always been by her side ever since she moved here. She always threw the best sleepovers, gave Chinami her nickname, and would go as far as threatening to beat up the captain of the male basketball team when he called Chinami aggressive for beating him in a one on one in spite of the fact that Nanae was only five feet and much smaller than the two of them.

Chinami smiled to herself while stretching as she thought of Nanae, saying aloud," She still doesn't even know what charley horse means."

Unbeknownst to her, the patch of electric yellow and periwinkle in her hair had gotten bigger, to the point where even a lower ponytail wasn't doing much good at concealing it.

The next day, Kiriko was sitting at the same bench where she planned to meet Chinami with Hayase and Tadashi and patiently awaited for their arrival, accompanied by the rest of her friends and the fairies sitting on the table.

"You know, I really do appreciate that you guys were all so willing to hear about our student council issue with starting up the newspaper club..." Kiriko began, eyes shut before she took a deep breath," But you guys really didn't need to come with us."

Asuna was loudly drinking a fountain drink she got from the fast food joint down the street while Sophie was scrolling through her emails and Mari was reading a book. It appeared that none of them took notice of Kiriko's irritation as they all waited around.

"Oh, come on! You know we wouldn't hesitate to help out a friend!" Sophie insisted as she gave Kiriko a pat on the back.

"That's really not the point..." Kiriko stated in a forced calm voice as she looked over to see if Chinami was on her way, moments before her phone vibrated in her pocket. Kiriko reached for her phone and noticed she received a message from Tadashi that read,

 _"You can go on without me, Hayase and Chinami. We're just heading to the pharmacy to pick up a few things."_

Kiriko looked at the text suspiciously, her eyes narrowed at her screen before she hesitantly stood up from her seat. She glanced over to her friends and motioned them to follow suite, leading the way to the place where Chinami said they'd find Nanae. Kiriko put her phone away into her pocket, still concerned about the text she just received. Today was supposed to be important, so what business did the three of them have at the pharmacy? Kiriko figured it must've been some sort of emergency, so she decided to stop thinking about it.

Nanae was standing in front of a trampoline being jumped on by Rikido, with his video camera in her hands. Nanae's head was moving up and down with the camera right in front of her as she recorded Rikido jumping and doing tricks on the trampoline. There were a bunch of people at indoor trampoline park, named Hopper's, and it was a dimly lit place with it's rather obnoxious music blaring loudly. Normally, Nanae would've been absolutely repulsed by stepping foot in such a raucous place but being with Rikido made this outing more than worth it. Not only that, watching Rikido jump on the trampoline was quite fun for her. His glasses were being held by Nanae while he jumped and preformed flips.

"You're doing great!" Nanae shouted to him, still moving her head up and down as she filmed.

Rikido quickly flashed her a thumbs-up and stopped jumping. He then stepped off of the trampoline and stepped down to Nanae's level, looking at her with a sheepish expression on his face.

"I hope this wasn't much of a let-down. I really was hoping you were going to be surprised when we came..." Rikido said as he placed his hand behind his head and chuckled.

Nanae was silent for a few moments and then responded with," I'm having fun, I'm glad we came today."

Rikido then grinned and gestured Nanae to give him back his glasses. Nanae gave them back and the two of them took a seat on the nearby benches.

"So, when do you wanna give it a try?" Rikido asked, causing Nanae's eyes to widen greatly in response.

"Um, I think I'll save it for another day, I didn't sleep well last night and my back kinda hurts. How about I go get us something to drink ok?" Nanae offered as she stood up quickly and practically ran to the front of the indoor park.

Nanae leaned against the wall, her gaze to the floor as she muttered to herself,"I could never jump around like that in a place like this! All the other kids would probably find it weird that a girl my size would even think about trying something like that."

Nanae then brought her gaze to the distant trampolines, watching as the abundance of kids jumped on them. It wasn't just kids who were older and bigger than her, younger girls were here jumping about too, but Nanae still didn't seem interested in participating.

"I'm out of my element..." Nanae said to herself, holding back on a sigh. Just then, Nanae heard the door of the building crack open, letting the blinding afternoon light pour into the indoor park. Standing in the doorway were four girls she recognized but the sight of one of them made her mood turn sour.

"What the hell would Nanae be doing in a park full of preteen boys?" Asuna asked as she inspected the area. The place was familiar to her, but it had been years since she stepped foot inside the building. Thankfully it looked the same as it did when she last came.

Kiriko only shook her head at Asuna's response,"I doubt she came here willingly."

"What is she doing here?" Nanae spat angrily as she narrowed her eyes at Kiriko.

Meanwhile, Chinami, Hayase, and Tadashi were at the pharmacy. Tadashi and Hayase were waiting on only Chinami now, the girl claiming she wouldn't be long and walked deeper into the store. Tadashi leaned against the wall, holding a bag full of candy in hand as he looked around, hoping Chinami would appear.

"She's taking way too long, how's about one of us go check on her?" Tadashi suggested to Hayase, who seemed to have little interest in the idea.

"Who's going to go?" Hayase asked, lifting his gaze from his phone screen. Tadashi then held his hand in a fist, hoping that Hayase would catch on.

The two played a game of rock-paper-scissors and it was Tadashi who lost by drawing rock while Hayase chose paper. Tadashi frowned at his hand balled into a fist and exasperated a deep sigh.

"Fine, I guess I'll go." Tadashi declared with a scoff as he cautiously walked into the store in search of Chinami.

Chinami wasn't anywhere to be found in the suspected aisles she'd be in. The longer it took to find her, the more frustrated Tadashi grew. There weren't even a lot of people in the pharmacy so it wasn't like he could've overseen her. Tadashi admitted defeat and walked back to the store front under the belief that Chinami was already there. But as he walked to the front, he found Chinami perched in front of a row full of hair-dye holding two boxes of what appeared to be hair-dye in her hands.

"I was lucky that they actually had the root touch-up can in my shade but...which one actually matches my hair? The dark golden brown or the chocolate brown?" Chinami asked herself nervously as she looked at the two boxes, debating on whether to just buy the both of them as she adjusted the baseball cap on her head.

"Um, Chinami?" Tadashi said, startling the girl greatly," Are you ready to go?"

Chinami stood up in an instant and just picked the darker shade, as she sputtered out," Yes!"

The two of them walked awkwardly to the cash register with neither of them saying a word to the other. Chinami felt so embarrassed she could feel her whole face turn red while Tadashi only wondered what her natural hair colour was.

"Fat chance, Vice-pres!" Nanae declared, folding her arms and shaking her head. She, Kiriko and the rest of the group were outside now and Kiriko had just explained the whole newspaper ordeal in Hayase's absence. Kiriko hadn't prepared for something like this and was silently cursing herself for not doing so.

"I don't want anything to do with your dumb newspaper club! I'll have you know I'm a changed woman and I don't need to be a news outlet to feel useful." Nanae declared, though saying those words aloud made her heart sink.

"But, Nanae, there's no other person we would want to lead the club!" Kiriko explained, but Nanae wasn't buying into it.

Nanae was about to leave the group but just then, Jack appeared right before her, floating a few feet off the ground and grinned wildly at the sight of Nanae's Patchwork heart.

"Wow, your Patchwork Heart is full of agony and anguish! I don't think I've ever seen a one quite like it." Jack remarked as held out a black diamond, only for it to get shot for out of his hands by a pencil case getting thrown at his hand. The black diamond shattered upon making contact with the ground, and he looked at the ground covered in the diamond's fragments.

Nanae was about to run off in the other direction, but tripped on her own feet and just remained in place, petrified by her own fear.

"That's too bad." Jack stated as he looked at the broken diamond," I guess it really was smart of me to come with an ace up my sleeve!"

Nanae was overwhelmed and fainted in an instant and Jack then made what seemed to be a miniature Defective made from a wind-up toy appear in the palm of his hands. He tossed the toy up in the air and it grew ten times bigger and towered over the girls. The girls took a few steps back and suddenly heard a familiar voice shout out,

"You better stay away from my friend!"

The team turned around and saw Chinami standing a few feet behind them. She glared at Jack and balled her hands into fists while Jack only scoffed at the sight of her.

"Who's going to stop me? You, a weak and good for nothing-" Jack said, but stopped in mid-sentence as he noticed something going on around Chinami. He felt an immeasurable form of magic seeping out from her. The magic was nothing like the kind that came from an earthling and figuring put what this meant got Jack very excited.

"Don't tell your one of the migratories!" Jack exclaimed as the wind-up Defective stared to walk towards her.

Kiriko then shouted out, "Chinami, you have to leave-!"

"Not happening." Chinami declared as she walked ahead of them, her gaze set on the Defective," I'm going to save my Nanae!"

"You can't do that though!" Sophie reminded her," You'll only get hurt if you try and fi-"

"-Fine, if you insist! But just know, Nanae's safety lies in your hands." Asuna declared in an oddly dramatic voice that everyone except Chinami noticed. All heads turned to Asuna and she then motioned them towards the side of the building and held her transformation item to explain herself. The girls went along with Asuna's plan and all held their PlayPacts up high, shouting in unison,

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

""The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

Dolly led the group and practically bolted back to the scene once they completed their transformation, worried about what might've happened to Chinami in their absence. When they returned, Dolly and the rest of the team was surprised to see that Chinami had remained unscathed and it appeared the two were only staring each down right now.

Dolly then cleared her throat and called out to Chinami," We can see that you want to save your friend but it's ok, we're here to help and-"

"-I don't want your help!" Chinami shouted as she took a deep breath, surprising Dolly once more. The blonde Cure really wanted to argue her point but, somehow it felt as if her cries were going to fall on deaf ears.

"We have to get her out of here somehow, before she gets seriously hurt!" Fantasy whispered into Dolly's ear, with Dolly nodding in response. Just then, the Defective darted towards Chinami and lifted her off the ground, holding her up high while she writhed about in it's grip.

"Remove her hand." Jack declared imperatively, as he took on a lounging position while floating. The Defective did as told and revealed that Chinami's hair was streaked with vivid hues of periwinkle and electric yellow.

"Wow, my first encounter with one of the migratory, how delightful." Jack mused as he watched Chinami tried to break free from the Defective's grip," Lemme guess, your magic seal broke and now you think you've got access to boundless powers?"

The Defective's grip got tighter and Chinami winced at the pain while Jack said,"And to think you believed you could save your friend too? Oh, it's so cute and admirable, too bad it's nothing more than a fantasy."

"I will save Nanae..." Chinami said quietly, as she took a deep breath and shut her eyes. Just then, Chinami's magic started to flow out again, and this time, it felt a whole stronger. Everyone in the vicinity could feel her magic and all eyes were Chinami now.

Jack appeared less calm and watched Chinami in agitation as he started to ramble, saying," Even if you've got access to your powers now, you're only one person and my Defective can defeat hundreds, no, thousands, of people! Not to mention, from what I can tell, you're just a rookie and I doubt you could even do any damage to my Defecti-"

"Let my friend go!" Chinami shouted as mass of volts emerged from out of her and towards the Defective. The Defective felt as if it had been electrocuted and let go of Chinami out of reflex.

Bubbly then took a step forward and extended her hand out as she yelled," Pretty Cure, bubbling impact!"

The attack broke Chinami's fall and the Cures ran over to her see if she was ok. The Cures wore very impressed looks on their faces as they looked at Chinami, who only smiled weakly to the girls. She was exhausted from that attack and knew she had done all she could.

"I overestimated my powers, can you guys take it from here?" Chinami asked as she took deep breaths to calm herself down.

The Cures nodded in response with Dolly saying," Absolutely, you just hang in there, and we'll save Na- your friend, ok?"

Chinami nodded and folded her arms to put her head on top of them. She fell asleep moments after and the Cures took over the fight. The Cures broke into two teams and ran towards the Defective.

Dolly leapt up very high and did a somersault in midair, holding her hands in front of herself as she shouted," Pretty Cure, Wishful cyclone!"

A powerful violet whirlwind emerged from out of Dolly's hands and hit the Defective square on. The Defective seemed to have been dealt a lot of damage as it uncontrollably shook about, but it's feet were planted firmly on the ground.

Dolly frowned at the sight once she landed back onto the ground next to Teddy and then said," It seems relatively weaker now thanks to Chinami but, it's quite persistent."

"It's isn't putting up much of a fight either." Teddy pointed out as the two of them watched Bubbly and Fantasy engage in a rather one-sided battle against the Defective.

Jack was quite aggravated at the sight of his Defective doing nothing in this fight against the Pretty Cure and spun around his index finger, causing the gear on the Defective to wind up again. The Defective regained mobility and started to speed walk towards the Pretty Cure.

 _"All we need to do is just break off the gear..."_ Dolly and Teddy thought to themselves. The two of them didn't even bother to relay their ideas to each and went straight into the attack, but the Defective was a lot quicker than they thought. The Defective knelt down and picked up the two of them in an instant. Dolly and Teddy were both held tight in the grip of the Defective, leaving only Bubbly and Fantasy able to fight.

"Why do you think they were running to the back of the Defective like that?" Bubbly asked as the two of them watched their teammates writhe around in the Defective's grip. Fantasy had a few ideas in mind as to why, but soon figured out their reason once she made eye-contact with Cure Teddy and saw doing a breaking motion with her hands. Fantasy then tried to devise a plan in the little amount of time she had.

Fantasy then whispered into Bubbly's ear and Bubbly nodded in understanding, saying only," Are you sure that can work though?"

"It's worth a shot." Fantasy said to her as she offered her hands to Bubbly. Fantasy and Bubbly joined both their hands for a few moments, with each Cure concentrating her powers into her palm. Bubbly's hands were feeling a lot cooler now and the Cures let go broke hold of one pair of their hands. Fantasy then swung Bubbly and sent her flying towards the Defective.

Bubbly then held both of her hands in front of herself and shouted," Ice to meet ya!"

Chunks of ice sprouted out from her hands and froze all of the Defective, except for it's arms, in a block of ice. Bubbly then jumped up and went behind the Defective, smashing her heel against the gear and snapping it off.

Dolly and Teddy were able to free themselves from the Defectives clutch and the Defective then fell over, unable to move anymore.

"Let's finish this off!" Dolly declared, with her teammates nodding in response.

"Pretty Cure Playtime Party!" The four of them shouted in unison as a kaleidoscope of lights appeared around them. The Defective was cleansed and returned to it's original form.

"Ooh I'm so sick of you Pretty Cure showing up and ruining everything! One of these days you're gonna regret ever meeting us at Asperity, after all, we have the Well of Wonder in our possession now," Jack declared gallantly as he folded his arms," It's only a matter of time before we end things here."

Dolly was shocked, so shocked that she impulsively gasped and held her hand over her mouth, but Teddy didn't seem as surprised.

"If you guys really have the well then how come you're still playing games with us?" Teddy questioned without hesitation," What you're doing sure seems like a waste of your time."

Jack was rather irritated by her response and impatiently said," We're not wasting our time! We're just...we're collecting important stuff!"

Within an instant, he disappeared and the Cures were left speechless, unsure of what to believe as they stared at the spot Jack once vacated. Teddy, Bubbly and Fantasy exchanged

nervous expressions amongst each other, but Dolly was simply looking at the ground in deep thought.

"I think...I think he was talking about the magic from inside the well." Dolly said as she glanced over to her teammates.

Once the girls reversed their transformations, they looked over to Chinami. They were all unwilling to mention the elephant in the room and so, they only exchanged uneasy expressions before Kiriko finally said in a forcefully casual voice,

"Who would've guessed she's from the kingdom?"

Rani and Nova were watching over Chinami, with the girls sitting a few feet away in case Chinami woke up. Nanae had already recovered and the girls convinced her to go home for the day, claiming that Chinami already left.

"She may've dealt some damage to the Defective today, but that doesn't mean her powers are on par with the Pretty Cure..." Rani stated as she watched over Chinami,"In this instance, I believe Chinami's attack was like a release of pent-up emotions, so that was why they were so strong."

Chinami then stirred and finally woke up. She sat upright and the Cures hid behind a fence, leaving only Rani and Nova in her line of sight. Nobody said a word for a few solid moments and Chinami just stared at the fairies anxiously, knowing very well they weren't regular plush toys.

"What are creatures like you doing here on Earth?" Chinami asked in concern as she leaned in close to get a better look at them.

"We're with the Pretty Cure." Nova stated curtly," We noticed that you have a broken seal, did you want it fixed?"

"Huh? Oh, well...it didn't get broken, it was lifted..." Chinami responded before she took a glance at her hair," My parents knew that there was trouble going on these last few weeks, and they thought I should try and protect myself through my magic. It isn't exceptional or anything, but they thought it'd catch the bad guys off guard, which it did. But, yeah I think I've had enough of these powers for a while, I'd be better off having them sealed up again."

Rani and Nova nodded in understanding with the former saying,"If you'd like, we could restore the seal on your powers."

Chinami had to think about it for a few moments, and then she nodded her head as she said," Go ahead."

Rani and Nova sat on either side of Chinami and started to chant strange foreign words for a few minutes. It was mesmerizing and surreal to the girls who had never seen anything quite like this. Sparkles of purple and yellow flowed faintly around Chinami in a circle. Her hair was slowly reverting back to its usual dark brown colour as time passed. After about ten minutes, the process was complete and Chinami was back to her normal self.

"Thank you very much, I'm glad I don't have to deal with all that stress that came with hiding my powers. I owe you two big time." Chinami said as she stood up," I'll see you around ok?"

Rani and Nova nodded and Chinami waved goodbye to them as she walked home.

Chinami's walk home was a quiet one for the most part. At least it was until she reached her halfway point and her phone began to ring. Chinami checked her phone and found that it was Nanae and that this wasn't the first time she called this afternoon. Nanae had called her about eight times an hour ago too.

Chinami then anxiously picked up the phone and braced herself as she gingerly put in her headphones, not even getting a chance to say hello as Nanae was already talking.

"Please tell you're safe and sound! I had the absolute worst dream when I got knocked out at the trampoline place! You had crazy hair and you were fighting against this huge monster and you almost got killled and then-!"

"I'm ok, don't worry about it." Chinami affirmed with a chuckle as a pained smile appeared on her face," It was only a dream."

"You better be! Because if you got hurt I..." Nanae trailed off unsurely and let a sigh escape her lips," I missed you a lot these last few weeks, can we be friends again? Please, Chiara?"

Chinami was surprised to hear Nanae pulling out the formalities but she knew it was only because she was that serious about her plea.

"We didn't stop being friends, so don't ask silly things like that." Chinami answered confidently.

Elsewhere, on the other side of town, a woman wearing a kimono styled dress that reached her knees walked around town, feeling like a fish out of water. The sun was too bright, the air was quite dry and there were too many loud noises. She had gotten so accustomed to pure silence that anything else would only give her headaches. But still, the headache wasn't the worst of her problems. The familiarity of this place annoyed her and trying to understand what brought on this feeling only made her headache worse.

"Who is that woman to me? Why does she trust me so much, even though we haven't known each other for long?" The woman asked herself as she continued to walk,"What am I doing here?"


	20. An invite to a party

Asuna, Hayase and Tadashi were walking home after school together. They were chatting amongst each other for the first time in a while and it made Asuna feel great after so long. Of course she could talk to Tadashi when she wanted but Hayase was...a bit more of a challenge.

"And I heard the monster was like fifty feet tall!" Tadashi exclaimed, raising his hand up as high as he could to punctuate his point," So what happened was the girls with the frilly dresses showed up and beat the lights out of it! At least, that's what I've been hearing, but this isn't the first time they've come to save the day."

Tadashi then pushed Hayase's shoulder playfully, exclaimed," And to think we could've met them if Chinami didn't make us stay back."

"Yeah, I guess so, but I don't think they would've appreciated our presence if they were trying to fight a monster." Hayase pointed out as he ran his hand through his hair.

Asuna nodded in response and shrugged saying," Yeah you guys would've only gotten in their way. Especially you, Tadashi."

"Hey I can be pretty tough you know!" Tadashi claimed as he pulled up his sleeve to show his muscles, but all Asuna could focus on was how pasty white his arms were.

"Bro, you're gonna blind us." Asuna said flatly as she hid behind Hayase while shielding her eyes. From this angle, Asuna then noticed something new on Hayase.

"You got your ears pierced!" Asuna interjected in excitement, "They look really good!"

Hayase smiled back to her bashfully, his face tinted pink as he said," Thanks but-"

"-He's been shy about them, so he's hasn't been showing them off too much!" Tadashi interrupted as he firmly placed a hand on Hayase's shoulder, with Asuna nodding in response.

"They make you look cool!" Asuna exclaimed as she grinned. Just then, Asuna received a phone call and knew who it was without even looking at the caller ID. She was a bit hesitant to answer, but she knew that the caller would only contact her in case of emergency.

"I'm gonna stay behind, I have an important call." Asuna stated as she leaned against a nearby tree. The boys nodded and left Asuna behind.

Asuna picked up the phone and asked," What's up Soph?"

"I think I have a lead on where the well's magic might be." Sophie declared.

Asuna's eyes opened up wide and then she heard Kiriko and Mari's voice on the other side of the line.

"You can't be serious!" Mari said in an excited voice.

"Where is this lead?" Kiriko questioned desperately.

Asuna held back on a sigh upon realizing that this was one of those group calls. She hated the sound of a bunch of voices talking among each other, but she decided to say nothing about it.

"So, there's a girl at my school who owns that new water company Mizuhime..." Sophie began on the phone.

"This is stupid." Asuna said flatly, hours later when she arrived home, holding a dress in front of her phone.

Mari and Sophie were on a video call with her and shook their heads at the dress, causing Asuna to toss the dress on her bed in frustration with all the other dresses she had shown to them.

Apparently, Sophie's twin classmates Harue and Hyosuke's parents were unveiling some new type of project called the "Wonder Well's Water" and with a name as...intriguing as that, Sophie felt like something was going on. The twins had invited Sophie and some friends of her choice, to come to their unveiling of the project. At first, Sophie had been surprised, and even excited about the event but once she figured they probably only invited her to bring attention to this event with her fame, she wasn't as enthusiastic.

"Asuna do you only own black edgy-looking dresses?" Sophie questioned curiously but Asuna mistook her tone for condescending.

"There's nothing wrong with my dresses!" Asuna claimed as she crossed her arms in a huff, "Why do I even need to dress up anyways?"

"The Kanemiya family is fairly rich and they live in a mansion." Mari reminded her," You don't want to stick out right?"

Asuna looked away from the camera and sighed, not saying a word. It wasn't like she normally needed to dress up anyways. And knowing that her friends already had knowledge on these kind of events made her feel inferior in comparison. A thought then crossed her mind.

"Why aren't you guys overlooking Kiriko's clothes?" Asuna questioned skeptically.

"Kiriko said she was a bit busy tonight and she promised us she'd dress up in her best attire for the event." Sophie explained.

Kiriko was at home, writing in a notebook that had a sparkly lilac cover. It looked much different from her usual stationary, especially with the book being written exclusively in sparkly pink gel pens.

Kiriko was drawing a picture of the Well of Wonder. She was never that good at drawing, but she didn't let this discourage her. Next to the drawing was a list of things that the well could have held inside of it. Written on the list were the words water, magic, potions and energy.

Rani was sitting next to her as she wrote and watched her draw away in the notebook.

"Would it be possible for the well to lose its magic?" Kiriko asked as she put her pen down," Where would that magic go? Where could it go? Would it spread itself out across the globe? Or find a hiding place so obscure it could keep all the magic there? How much magic would need to be hidden anyways?"

"You sure like asking questions." Rani remarked as she joined Kiriko in staring at the blank page, "But its understandable. And I'm sure soon enough we'll get our answers."

Kiriko continued to stare at the page and shook her head at the drawing. Things weren't adding up yet and stuff like this never failed to immensely bother Kiriko.

"Also, I've been meaning to ask about the migratory thing..." Kiriko began briskly," Did you know Chinami was from the kingdom before that...incident?"

Rani shook her head as she said," She had her powers sealed up this whole time. There was no way for us to detect it."

"Ok, that makes sense." Kiriko responded as she stood up," So I guess you haven't sensed any other kingdom members since you came to earth, right?"

Rani shook her head and then Kiriko looked through her window and said," I would like to know what the kingdom is like. I'll be honest, it feels strange fighting for the fate of a land I've never even been to."

Rani nodded in understanding and Kiriko returned to working away in her notebook.

 _"If we find the well's magic, that only means we'll be left to have an all-out fight with Asperity. Is the the team ready for something like that? Am_ I _ready for something like that?"_ Kiriko thought to herself.

At Asperity, Domino was holding out a set of blueprints as usual, but what was on this set of blueprints was anything but. In the place of his typical schemes and plans to defeat the Pretty Cure, there was a highly detailed diagram of a mansion on the blueprint. It didn't seem as sinister as his usual blueprints, not even the word Pretty Cure was written on it. Domino just smiled, admiring the architectural work of the mansion and angled his head slightly.

"What are you looking at?" Jack questioned as he walked into the room, crouching slightly next to Domino," Is this some sorta castle?"

"Not quite." Domino answered as he stood up," This is the Kanemiya Mansion!"

"What's that supposed to be?" Jack asked, unaffected by Domino's enthusiasm.

"This mansion is owned by a very wealthy family who is hosting a party to unveil a rather, interesting event." Domino explained before he revealed another rolled-up page from his inner jacket pocket. He handed the page to Jack who unrolled it curiously.

"We invite you to a night you won't forget, filled with fun, laughter, pleasure and- This is boring! Are you sure you gave me the right sheet?" Jack said as she stretched it out, twisting it to the side just before a string of words caught his eye.

"Wonder Well's Water?" Jack repeated as he stared the page blankly.

On the night of the party, the girls and the fairies had assembled at Sophie's house before they left for the Kanemiya mansion. The girls were all dressed as formal as they possibly could and it was evident that they had their own definitions of formal. Kiriko and Mari wore satiny dresses that reached their ankles while Sophie and Asuna opted for a slightly more causal look by wearing brighter coloured dresses that went to their knees.

"Wow Asuna, your dress is so cute!" Sophie remarked as the group inspected her dress," I'm a bit surprised it isn't black."

Asuna kept her gaze on the floor, wishing that her yellow dress wasn't as eye-catching as it was. In her defense, aside from all her black dresses, this was the best formal attire she had. The dress hadn't seen the light of day in literal years since she had received it as a birthday present but it didn't fit her until now. Plus, she was never fond of wearing brighter colours outside.

"You all look really good! But remember, we have business to tend to at this event tonight." Rani reminded the group, with Nova nodding in agreement.

"In the case that this really is the magic the Well of Wonder has lost, we'll need to act fast if we want to get it." Nova declared determinedly.

The girls nodded in response and took their leave for the party.

Sophie's mother offered to drive the girls there after Sophie mentioned her plans for the evening. Her mother was thrilled to hear that Sophie had made a bunch of friends and wasted no time in offering a ride, insisting that it was the least she could do. The ride to the Kanemiya mansion was longer than the girls expected, but with all the traffic they were met with, they somehow knew they were headed in the right direction.

"Could it be that the Kanemiya twins live out-of-town?" Mari asked as she looked around her unfamiliar surroundings in the car.

"They probably lived in a closed-off neighbourhood on the outskirts of town." Kiriko explained as she tried to read one of the street signs from within the car," I think I've heard about this neighbourhood before too..."

Soon enough, the girls reached the mansion and parted ways with Sophie's mom and were immersed into a ginormous crowd compiled of business people, fellow high-school students and members of the Kanemiya family outside of the mansion. It was quite the spectacle for the girls and they already felt lost in the crowd yet they hadn't even set foot in the mansion.

"This place is swarming with people!" Asuna gasped out as the girls tried to make it into the mansion," Sophie, can't you call the Kanemiya girl and tell her we're here?"

"Hm, I doubt I'll get much reception here in such a stranded place, plus Harue might too busy to even notice her phone ringing." Sophie answered as the girls continued to fight their way towards the mansion.

As the girls tried to reach the doorway to the mansion, a girl with light golden blonde hair wearing a lavish looking dress then noticed the group and smiled as soon as she saw Sophie. She grinned as she clasped both of Sophie's hands and offered her a large warm smile.

"Sophie, I'm so glad you could make it!" The girl declared as she pulled her in for a hug. As soon as she broke the hug, she then turned to the girls.

"Ah, these are my friends Kiriko, Asuna, and Mari." Sophie introduced as she waved her hand in their direction," They're from Ikoma High."

"I see, well I glad you were able to come! I'm Harue Kanemiya." The girl introduced kindly," It's a pleasure to meet you!"

The girls awkwardly said the same thing to her and Harue led the group into her mansion. WIth Harue taking the lead, things were much easier now since no one wanted to inconvenience Harue through obstructing her path. The girls had reached the front of the mansion and Harue ushered them inside.

Once the girls entered the mansion, they all wore a look of shock on their face as they observed their surroundings. The ivory painted walls were illuminated well under the very bright lights and chandelier in the room. The whole room was actually quite bright and not to mention filled with people. Paintings were hung up on the walls and a giant stairway leading to the upper level of the mansion was in the center of the room.

"You guys can check-in with your phones ok?" Harue said as she continued walking," I'll show you guys the event hall."

"Event hall?" Kiriko and Asuna repeated in shock.

As the girls started walking to the event hall, Mari then took this chance to ask Sophie something that had been on her mind since they first arrived.

"Harue seems very nice, are you guys good friends?" Mari asked casually.

"To be honest... not really." Sophie stated as she blankly stared at Harue.

"This is the event hall!" Harue exclaimed as she held her hands in front of the giant room they were about to enter. Kiriko audibly gasped and clasped her mouth shut in embarrassment while Asuna rubbed her eyes, in disbelief of the room's size.

"This must've cost a fortune to build!" Kiriko blurted out, before putting her hands over her mouth again.

"This whole room is bigger than my damn house!" Asuna remarked, eyes wide as she stared up at the ceiling.

Harue chuckled awkwardly and then said," Oh, it's not that grand. Anyways, you girls can make yourselves comfy and have some snacks at the tables over there ok?"

The girls then left for the snack table. Sophie was going to join them, but Harue then grabbed a hold of her arm and said,

"I have some business people here who are looking for models for an upcoming fashion show, would you be ok with meeting with them now?"

Sophie looked at her wide-eyed, unsure of what to say and only nodded her head awkwardly. Harue giggled and directed her to the group of business people.

The inside of the mansion was definitely less packed than outside and that was likely because most people outside hadn't received a formal invite, so they weren't given any access in. Standing outside of the mansion was a hoard of high-school boys dressed in semi-formal clothes looking expectantly at the mansion. None of them had received an invitation, but that didn't stop them from trying to sneak their way in. But, security around the house had gotten tighter by the time they arrived, and they weren't sure if they'd be able to walk in without an invite.

"This is the worst! I told you we should've talked Hyosuke into inviting us!" One of the boys lamented, while one of them narrowed his eyes on the door, waiting for his chance to enter.

"I'm not trying to coax that whiny emo kid into befriending us, even if it meant we'd have a secure way in." He responded with his arms crossed," Rules are made to be broken anyways!"

"Bro, when are gonna get to see the models? I'm getting tired just standing out here." Another boy in the group said as he loosened his tie.

The second boy then turned around and impatiently said, "I already told you, we'll them when we-! Ah, I think I found one."

The boys all then turned around and saw a girl with green hair that cascaded to her back wearing a dark green sleeveless dress looking around the mansion inquisitively. She was short and she appeared lost with eyes wide at the sight of her surroundings.

"Why did I have to wear a dress, of all things, to this party? I haven't worn one of these things since I was little."The girl said to her self in frustration, revealing herself as Bounce as she pulled down her dress in hopes that she wasn't showing more skin than she wanted to," Whatever, I made it this far, I can't just let something like this bother me."

Bounce then noticed the group of boys staring at her and she eyed them suspiciously before asking them," What the hell are you looking at?"

Inside the event hall wasn't as crowded as the main hall of the mansion, but it was uncomfortably hot with all these people populating the hall. Asuna pressed her hand behind her neck and took notice how hot her hands had become after standing in here for so long. She and Kiriko had stood at the corners of the hall, becoming a pair of wall-flowers as they awaited the time for Harue's father to unveil his new project.

"I'm gonna die." Asuna said in an exhausted voice as she put her hair into a pony tail.

"Funny how the girl who controls fire can't handle a hot room." Kiriko pointed out with a chuckle as she fanned herself with a programme sheet of the evening's events," Hey Asuna, if we were to somehow get the well's magic tonight...do you think you'd be ready to have a final fight for it against Asperity?"

 _"Why am I asking her a question like this?"_ Kiriko thought to herself skeptically," _Of course she's gonna say yes-"_

"No clue." Asuna declared indifferently as she looked forward nervously," I guess so if we have no other choice but...I don't think I've reached that point where I feel confident in my powers. I can't feel confident that we'd win. I want us to but...I don't know, I feel like we aren't ready as of yet."

Kiriko nodded in understanding and things went quiet between them.

A boy with short brown hair was sitting by himself near the wall of the event hall, completely immersed in the game his was playing on his phone and completely detached from his surroundings. Quite a few people were offering concerned looks to him, but he paid no mind to them. The majority of the night for him had been spent playing games on his phone or going to the snack table. Despite that the party started hours ago, he had yet to speak with anyone here, and he didn't plan to change that.

Just then, he saw a flash of green from the corner of his eye and looked up from his game for a moment.

Standing a few feet away from him was Bounce, ambling around the hall curiously as she looked around.

"Great, how am I supposed to find the well's magic with all these people around? I can't concentrate to search for it in a place like this." She grumbled to herself. Bounce then saw the snack table and perked up a bit, walking quickly towards the table. The boy then followed after her.

"Can't think on an empty stomach." She said to herself as she surveyed the table and tried to choose something to eat. She then noticed a platter of shrimp cocktails.

"Ooh shrimp, my favourite!" Bounce exclaimed as she started to pick out shrimp from the set of cocktails.

The boy was standing behind her now, eyes wide open in surprise as he watched the green-haired girl eat all the shrimp from the cocktails. He was tempted to tell her that those weren't for eating, but seeing her make a mess of the cocktails was admittedly entertaining. Bounce then turned around and saw him staring at her. She then offered him a shrimp.

"Have you tried these yet?" She asked, her mouth half-full of shrimp.

The boy opened his mouth to respond, but closed it as he stood there awkwardly. Obviously he had tried the shrimp here before, did she not realize this? The boy then smiled to her and shook his head, but he wasn't done with her. She shrugged and started to eat the rest of them she had collected in her cupped hands, paying no attention to the passerbys giving her dirty looks.

"It's nice to see someone's actually enjoying the party." The boy said with a rather forced laugh," So, what's your role? Business woman, heiress to a rich family, model?"

Bounce shook her head and plainly said,"I just came because I felt like it, plus I have some other things to attend to here. Hey, you wouldn't happen to know when the water thing will be announced, would you?"

The brunette was slightly annoyed by the question and said impatiently," It'll be in about an hour or so. But I could name at least a thousand better things to do here, want to find out what those things are?"

"Sure I guess." Bounce said, as he followed his lead.

Elsewhere, Sophie was getting a bunch of questions by the business people Harue introduced to her. It had been quite a while since she had an informal interview like this. The longer their chat lasted, the more tense Sophie became. But, the people chatting with her were actually really nice to her, but their questions had irritated her quiet a bit, though she didn't show it.

One woman then asked her, "So Sophie, when you finally get your big break, what's going to your first move? Model for a designer brand in Europe? Move overseas? Maybe even-?"

"-Um, I can't measure how that will take so I don't think it'd be wise of me to make such choices at this point in time. Things could change drastically by the time I reach that point in my career." Sophie explained with the people nodding in understanding, completely unaware of how bitter Sophie felt as those words escaped her mouth.

"Alright, well, we had some other people we needed to see this evening, so we'll talk another time?" The woman said as she and the others gave Sophie their business cards," If you to get in touch, don't hesitate to call, ok?"

Sophie nodded and the group then left her alone. Once the group was out of earshot, Sophie exhaled a giant sigh and felt her heart sink and her head swim as she tried to process what just happened. Without realizing it, the business people reminded her that she hadn't been moving forward in her career. It was frustrating and it made her feel like she was doing something wrong, but she didn't know what else she could do to change that.

She hung her head and then, Mari approached her and sat beside her.

"Were those people bothering you?" Mari asked, putting a hand on Sophie's back.

Sophie then lifted her head and adjusted her posture saying,"No, it wasn't them, it was just...they were bringing up things I didn't want to talk about. But, it's not like they knew, they were only asking because...well, to be honest I'm not quite sure on that part."

"I see." Mari responded softly as the two of them watched the crowds of people in the event hall," It must have been quite stressful to have been put on the spot like that. How about we spend the rest of the evening doing something you'd like?"

"Hmm..." Sophie sounded, trying to think of what she would've enjoyed doing at the party. She then noticed half of the people in the hall were dancing to the music playing in the room. She gazed at them intently, and considered joining them before she remembered that she didn't have anyone to dance with.

Sophie then sighed and said," It would be nice to go and dance right now."

Mari then giggled and stood up, offering her hand to Sophie as she said," Shall we?"

"This place makes me sick!" Harue shouted, her tone much less cheerful and inviting than before. Harue was leaned against the railing of the mansion's balcony, where she could get a full view of the courtyard that was free of people and only saw the courtyard's garden and fountain beneath her. Harue was with some of her friends from high-school, but her parents didn't know that she invited these girls. Her parents weren't approving of many people and these girls were no exception. They were far from it, actually.

"For christ's sake! It's not every day I turn seventeen years old, couldn't my dad just schedule the announcement on a different day?" Harue lamented as she rested her head on the railing.

"Is this what they call rich people problems?" One of the girls wondered aloud as she held a brown bottle to Harue," You need to loosen up a bit."

Harue nodded and took a hold of the drink while her friend opened it for her.

Bounce and the boy returned from the mansion's mini theatre and the boy looked quite proud after winning nearly every match of the game that he had Bounce play with him.

"You see, all you really need is strategy paired with lightning quick reflexes, and by that point, you'll be on way to becoming an expert." He explained in a brash voice, though Bounce wasn't really that interested in getting better in the game, though she did have fun.

Bounce then noticed people were dancing in the event hall. Not a single person in the hall was riding and everyone was in pairs enjoying the music as they danced. Bounce was quite interested by the sight of so many people dancing before her and it looked like fun, despite the fact that their dancing style was a bit boring to her.

"Hey let's join them!" Bounce suggested as she took a hold of the boy's hand and ran to the hall.

"Are you serious?" The boy then asked in an incredulous voice as the two of them rushed to the floor.

"Of course I am! Check out my moves!" Bounce declared as she began to dance. She definitely wasn't dancing like everyone else, it was as if she had been listening to a completely different song than everyone else. She received some more dirty looks again and this time, instead of sitting back and watching, the boy made an effort to correct her.

He took both of Bounce's arms and gently said," Like this."

He took the lead and showed her how the dance worked, paying no attention to the crowd and all the eyes on the two of them. Bounce was surprisingly light on her feet and soon enough got the gist of the dance. Bounce seemed to enjoy the dance and wasn't expecting the boy to be so good at this.

"You know, this dance is sorta boring." Bounce remarked, her tone sounding oddly upbeat.

"Yeah you're right, but it's timeless." He responded as a smile appeared on his face," Oh yeah, you haven't told me your name."

Bounce face turned as white as a sheet. She hadn't planned on telling him that. She then sighed and leaned in closed, whispering into his ear.

"That's pretty." The boy remarked as Bounce drew back," What does it means?"

"Who knows?" Bounce responded with a shrug.

"Someone must." The boy stated plainly as they continued to dance.

"By the way, what's yours?" Bounce questioned.

The boy looked at her in surprise and then said," You didn't know? It's...Hyosuke."

They stopped dancing once the music died down and some people had given them applause.

"Ugh, I wanna go home!" Harue shouted, her cheeks slightly tinted pink as she stormed over to the staircase.

"Harue, you _are_ home." One of her friends called out from the balcony.

Harue groaned and leaned forward against the stairway saying," Don't remind me."

Harue then looked downstairs, unsatisfied with what she saw as she grumbled to herself, " Everyone is having fun at this stupid party except me, when I'm the birthday girl!"

Bounce then walked upstairs, looking around the floor and paying no attention to Harue.

"It's gotta be around here somewhere…" Bounce said to herself as she inspected the near empty hall before she finally noticed Harue standing a few feet from her," Wow, you're awfully bitter."

Harue gnashed her teeth together and questioned impatiently, "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Doesn't matter to me." Bounce said tonelessly as she conjured up a black diamond and launched it towards Harue.

Harue fell to the ground unconscious as her patchwork heart had been corrupted. As she fell down, a lighter fell out of her home to jacket. Bounce then knelt to pick it up.

"This looks promising." Bounce remarked as she switched the lighter on and off.

Kiriko and Asuna just rejoined with Sophie and Mari in the hall when suddenly an alarm rang through the entire mansion.

"A fire alarm?" Sophie asked as she pressed her ears shut.

"Or maybe a false alarm." Asuna suggested as guests started to rush out of the mansion.

"There's a Defective here!" Rani shouted as she poked her head out of Kiriko's bag.

"Don't tell me those jerks at Asperity found out about the wonder well magic too!" Kiriko said as she fished for her PlayPact in her bag.

Bounce was still upstairs, watching as the sprinklers were set off from the Defective. The sprinklers did no harm to it and the Defective only eyed it's surroundings curiously, heedless of all the commotion it was causing. Bounce was smiling and felt rather impressed with herself. She had yet to see the Defective in action but somehow she already knew this one was going to put up quite the fight.

The Defective then noticed Bounce and glared at her, before it taunted, making Bounce jump slightly. She bumped into the wall behind her and laughed nervously to herself while keeping her gaze on the Defective.

"This Defective is so cool, and strong too..." Bounce said to herself as she took a step forward," Your goal is to get rid of any distractions and obstacles while I look for the Well of Wonder's magic!"

Bounce pointed downstairs and the Defective ran off while she continued her search.

The only people left in the mansion now were the Pretty Cure, all waiting around nervously for the Defective to appear. Just when thing became too quiet, the Defective then jumped downstairs from the top of the staircase and was inside the main hall. The Cures had been startled by the loud sound and all their eyes darted to the Defective, who was now trying to enter the event hall. The Defective charged into the room and blew ginormous flames towards the Cures.

The Cures leapt out of the way just in time, and the Defective took a few moments to recharge.

"This one shoots fire? This'll be too easy." Teddy remarked, as she held out her hand and shut one of her eyes. Dolly gave her a look and shook her head.

"You're going to get burned if you try fighting fire with fire. Besides, I'd be a bit more cautious around this Defective." Dolly advised as she returned her gaze to it," Something about it makes it feel very different from the others, it seems less...controlled."

In just a matter of seconds, the Defective was ready to blow another gigantic flame.

"Look out!" Bubbly shouted to the girls as she took a step forward," Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!"

Bubbly's attack missed the Defective by just a few inches and the Defective then went a blew another set of flames around the event hall, but these flames had failed to diminish. The girls looked around the event hall with panicked looks on their faces and they watch the flames thrive in the hall with no sign of clearing up.

"How are we going to put these flames out?" Fantasy asked worriedly as she anxiously watch the flames burn up almost everything in the event hall.

Bubbly didn't seem as worried as she took a deep breath and loosened herself up as she said to herself," This might take a while, but I got this!"

Fantasy stared at her for a few moments, thinking she was out her mind for her teammate believing she could do this all by herself. But with nobody else on the team with water-based powers, it only made sense that Bubbly saw it fit for her to take this task on all by herself.

"Bubbly, I'll do my best to help out, ok?" Fantasy declared as she stood with her back against her teammate, with Bubbly nodding in response.

Bounce had stood at the head of the staircase, where she could see everything going on in the even hall. Bounce was impressed by all the trouble her Defective had caused, never in her life did she think she'd see one of her creations deal out this much damage. It was oddly exhilarating but, only watching from the sidelines wasn't enough. The green-haired girl then decided to slide down the banister and join in on the fun.

"Look at all the chaos my Defective made!" Bounce declared joyously as she entered the event hall," This is by far one of the coolest things I've ever seen!"

"Bounce!" The Pretty Cure shouted in unison, with Dolly saying after," You've gone too far this time!"

Bounce started laughing at Dolly's response and only replied with," Yeah, I guess you might be right. But, wouldn't you agree this is quite a sight for the eyes?"

Dolly was furiously and instead of fighting the Defective, she started walking straight towards Bounce.

Suddenly, Jack and Domino appeared in the hall beside Bounce. Jack looked around the hall, wearing the same look of bewilderment Bounce had on moments ago, while Domino was a bit more apprehensive and cautious.

"Wow, you really are your mother's child huh? I'd never think to make a Defective out of a lighter." Jack remarked as he took a step forward, his hands in his pockets," Alright, I'll take it from here."

"Bounce, we're leaving, Jack will handle the rest of this." Domino stated in a stern voice as he urged her to follow along. He reached for her hand, but Bounce drew it back.

"As if! This Defective is mine and there is no way I'm abandoning it!" Bounce declared stubbornly.

The Defective then created yet another set of flames, heedless of the direction it was sending them to. It shot a few flames towards the Pretty Cure, but the bulk of this set was sent to the Asperity members.

Jack then drew an X shape in front of him and a transparent silver jack appeared before him. The flames diminished upon contact with it and Jack then said impatiently,

"Watch where you're shooting that thing, idiot!"

"See? This Defective is far too destructive, we shouldn't waste anymore time here." Domino advised her, but Bounce still wasn't interested.

"You're just jealous because I made a Defective way stronger than yours." Bounce claimed as she crossed her arms," I'm not leaving this fight! I went as far as putting on a dumb dress and not beating up a bunch of gross kids just to find the well's magic and-!"

Domino then lifted Bounce up, carrying her over his shoulder and ran out of the mansion as quick as he could.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Bounce shouted angrily as she tried to break free from his grip," Put me down right now so I can punch you in the face you jerk!"

"Even if I were to do that, I'm doubtful you'd be able to reach my face." Domino said with a sigh, knowing he was only adding fuel to the flame.

"What the hell did you just say?!" Bounce questioned furiously.

Back in the event hall, Bubbly and Fantasy were trying to put out the flames, but they weren't getting anywhere with the Defective continuing to shoot flames around the hall. The girls were getting frustrated and weren't sure of how to put an end to this.

Dolly and Teddy had tried to fight against the Defective, but it was near impossible to come near it. It was fairly quick but it's flames weren't making it any easier for the Cures to fight against it. Dolly and Teddy then stood back against each other, both feeling rather exhausted.

"This would be a lot easier if we could fight outside." Teddy said in a low voice," That way Bubbly and Fantasy could finally put out the fire."

Dolly nodded in response and then said," I know, but I can't figure out a way to actually get it outside! The event hall may be big but those front doors to the mansion certainly weren't."

Jack watched the fight continue at the top of the staircase, saying to himself," This one's pretty strong but I wonder how long it can last against those Pretty Cure?"

As if on cue, the Defective then shot a fireball towards Jack and he wasn't quick enough to dodge the attack. The fireball caused his vest to catch on fire and he looked the vest in pure shock. He shrieked and ripped it off immediately, stomping on the flame in an attempt to put it out. But instead, his shoe managed to catch on fire. Jack then took off his shoe and tried to blow out the flames, but it only got worse and the flames got bigger and moved to his shirt. He screamed again and ran off in search of some body of water. He dashed straight to the balcony and saw the fountain directly below and dived in.

"Cannonball!" He shouted before he fell into the fountain. He emerged out from the water in seconds, heaving in his breaths and leaning against the edge of the fountain. He took a deep breath and then noticed his reflection, groaning to himself at the sight of his hair down.

"I look awful..." Jack stated as he tilted his head backwards.

Dolly and Teddy had followed him up to the balcony, both of them had their eyes narrowed at Jack as they watched him step out of the fountain.

"Why do they have such a huge fountain?" Teddy questioned as she and Dolly continued to scrutinize Jack.

"I thought of something!" Dolly shouted as she took a hold of Teddy's hand and started running back to the event hall.

"Hey, hot stuff! Follow us." Dolly shouted as she and Teddy stood in the doorway of the event hall. Teddy gave Dolly a skeptic look but the Defective followed after her without any hesitation. The two Cures started running back to the balcony, and Teddy glanced over to Dolly suspiciously.

"Where are you going with this?" Teddy asked as they continued to run.

"You haven't caught on yet?" Dolly shouted as she skidded to a stop in front of the balcony. Moments later, the Defective arrived and then Dolly wore a look of shock on her face.

"Oh no! We've hit a dead end!" Dolly clamoured as she looked around in panic before her eyes met the edge of the balcony," Well, here goes nothing!"

Dolly winked to Teddy motioned her to follow suit. The two of them jumped off the balcony, with the Defective following after them. The Defective made a large splash but was no longer able to create flames, rendering it unable to attack.

"You're not a bad actor." Teddy remarked in surprised as she gave Dolly a high-five.

Dolly smiled in response and then said," Our job isn't over yet! I'm going to get Bubbly and Fantasy."

Bounce had sat in what appeared to be a janitor's closet of sorts in the mansion, accompanied by Domino. Bounce was beyond furious by being detained in here while Jack took all glory for her work. She had been ranting to Domino for the last three minutes now about how this was all very unfair.

"And not to mention, it if wasn't for me, you goons wouldn't have ever stood a chance trying to find the well's magic in this joint! Not like I did though but, that's not the point. I've been working so hard and each time I try to put in the effort, you two undermine me and treat me like some little kid-!"

"Ok Danica, I get it!" Domino exasperated after taking a breath, a blank look on his face before realizing what he had just said.

"I've already told you, I don't like being called that name." Bounce said slowly in a low voice," You two do nothing but try and protect me when you're getting in my way while I'm just doing my job. I know you're just following her orders, but I'm a part of this team too, whether you like it or not!"

Domino fell quiet for a few moments, trying to collect his thoughts. He put his hand to his forehead; if Bounce was good for something, it was giving headaches. But he understood Bounce was only voicing her opinions, it was her own little way of venting, despite sounding so aggressive. Domino then sighed and took a seat next to Bounce.

"Even if your mother is constantly telling us we must keep an eye out on you, it's not like she needs to. When we formed Asperity, we weren't planning to...have you on the team, not because we wanted to exclude you but, none of us wanted you to get caught up in all this." Domino confessed, well aware that Bounce was pleased by this response," We decided if we were to face defeat and...other unfavourable things, that would be fine. But, you're different. You don't have to join us, you can do so much more with your life! I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if you went down with us."

"Don't say such things." Bounce said quietly, her gaze fixated on her lap before she stood up in front of Domino, looking him dead in the eyes," Asperity _will_ win. Wanna know why? Because I'm not _ever_ going to leave this team!"

Domino fell quiet, frustrated by Bounce's resolve but chose to not say another word and motioned her to join him in returning to Asperity.

The Pretty Cure had purified the Defective a few moments ago and were now inside the event hall again. Dolly looked around the hall with a guilty look on her face. Even with the success of Bubbly and Fantasy extinguishing the flames, the hall was in shambles. She placed her hands over her mouth and felt tears form in her eyes. Fantasy walked over to give her a hug, but Dolly shook her head and took a step back.

"It'll be fine, it's not like anyone got hurt." Teddy reminded her.

"With this amount of damage, it's a surprise that no one did. But who's to say this won't happen again and that normal civilians won't get involved?" Dolly pointed out as clutched the violet diamond on her bow," At the rate we're going, this is bound to happen again. We have to get stronger."

"And we know just how to do that." Nova stated as she and Rani sat on one of the few tables left in the hall.

"We believe it's finally time you girls pay a visit to the Laruan Kingdom to train." Rani explained with Nova nodding vigorously in response," It might take a few days and things could get tough while training in the Kingdom, but I'm almost certain you girls will come out a stronger team. What do you say?"

The Pretty Cure all nodded in agreement and all eyes fell to Cure Dolly for a response. Dolly wore a determined look on her face as she said,

"Let's go."


	21. Off to the Kingdom!

Kiriko sat on the front porch of her house, playing with the lavender cashmere scarf she had around her neck. She looked over to the sidewalk and waited patiently for the rest of the Cures to come. Rani sat next to her, taking note of how nervous Kiriko appeared to be. She was fidgeting with her scarf, her mittens and playing with her hair while she awaited for her friends. Kiriko didn't even need a scarf and mittens in this weather, though she was insistent on it.

"Kiriko, you've got nothing to be worried about." Rani reassured her," The people in the kingdom are very nice, your magic will have a chance to thrive in a new atmosphere plus everything is pastel coloured, just like your bedroom! You'll feel right at home."

Kiriko nodded rigidly and offered Rani an uneasy smile before going through her phone.

"I wonder what it will be like actually stepping foot into the kingdom. I've thought about this day for a while now and...it's a bit overwhelming to think we'll be going there today." Kiriko confessed, moments before the rest of the team arrived at her place.

She picked up Rani and waved to the girls with her free hand. Kiriko then led the girls into her house, her heart racing at the thought of finally visiting the kingdom.

The girls walked into Kiriko's house, surprised by the absence of her parents since it was Sunday morning. Luckily for Kiriko, her parents had to be out of town for a few days so it wasn't likely they'd find out about her little trip to another realm. Her mind then trailed back to the evening of the Kanemiya twins' birthday party.

 _The father of the twins had made the decision to make the company announcement in the courtyard once everyone reassembled at the mansion. From there, the Cures found out that the Mizuhime company was hosting a year-long charity event under the name "Wonder Wells". Once the girls found out, they felt a bit disappointed, but also relieved in knowing the well's magic wasn't here._

Kiriko glanced over to her friends before they entered her room. Kiriko had told them earlier to tell their parents that they would be going to a sleepover, since none of them knew how long they be gone. She had pondered earlier exactly how long would it take for them to get stronger and improve enough to return to the human world. Would it take, days, weeks? Perhaps a whole month? And what skills of their would be put under review? As Kiriko opened the door to her room, she took one last deep breath before she walked over to her bed.

"Ok, we're all here now." Kiriko declared as Rani and Nova jumped onto her bed," What do we need to do?"

"First, take out your PlayPacts." Nova instructed the team.

The girls did as told and each of them held out their PlayPacts. Nova and Rani then inspected the room silently as if they were looking for something. Nova then pointed at the wall at the foot of Kiriko's bed.

"This will work." Nova stated as she and Rani stood facing the wall," This space here will become our door to the kingdom."

Rani then cleared her throat and said," I'll recite the incantation, when I'm finished you'll all shout out 'Pretty Cure, Kingdom Unveil'."

"Where toys run free and wishes come true, where magic runs rampant and there's lots to do. This kingdom we travel to is a realms away, they're in need of our help, so it's time to play!" Rani chanted by heart.

"Pretty Cure, Kingdom unveil!" The girls shouted in unison.

A set of lights appeared from the girls PlayPacts and together, they engraved a door into the space. Once the lights disappeared from the girls' PlayPacts, a pink and purple door with a patchwork design was in front of it. Kiriko took a step forward to further inspect the door. The edge of the rounded door was embellished with little diamonds and the door seemed to be made of a familiar, but unusual, material. Kiriko then pressed her hands on the door's surface to see what it was made from.

"It kinda reminds me of those books with the...inflated covers? I'm not quite sure what they're called." Kiriko said sheepishly before she put her hand to the doorknob," Are we all ready?"

WIth no objections, Kiriko figured the girls were good to go. As soon as she opened the door, a violent wind came through and sucked Kiriko into a bright pink hyperspace.

"Kiriko!" Mari shouted, while Asuna and Sophie ran after her into the hyperspace. Mari then grabbed the fairies and followed after them.

All the girls had entered through the door and were falling through the hyperspace.

"Are you sure this is going to lead us into the kingdom?" Kiriko asked loudly, her eyes squeezed shut as she clutched her stomach," This is way too extreme!"

"This is awesome! It's like free-falling but it never ends!" Asuna exclaimed as she looked down below her, unaware that she just made Kiriko feel much worse.

"This kinda reminds me of this Drop zone ride I went on when I went to that amusement park a couple of years ago!" Sophie said cheerfully, with Nova holding her.

Finally, the girls had exited the hyperspace and transported to a green pasture. The girls on fell flat on their face with the exception of Sophie's fall getting broken by Asuna.

"Well, that was quite the trip." Mari said as she fought to get back on her feet, her legs wobbling an awful lot as she did.

Sophie nodded in response and then heard someone from beneath her shout," Will you get off of me already?!"

Sophie was startled and immediately rose to her feet. When she saw Asuna laying in the spot she had sat on, she covered her mouth with her hands.

"I'm sooooo sorry!" Sophie said as she offered Asuna a hand up.

Asuna said nothing in response and looked over to Kiriko to see how she was holding up. Kiriko no longer seemed as queasy and was now just taking in her surroundings.

One look and the girls could already tell they were far from home. Even if the Kingdom's magic had been tampered with, the land seemed to have been perfectly fine. The sky was a bright, unusual blue like nothing they had ever seen. There were flowers they couldn't identify flourish in the lush, vivid green pastures and a few feet away from the was a giant castle.

"So I guess this is where we meet the royal family." Kiriko stated as they all gazed at the castle," We should probably report our progress to them and see if they've acquired any leads or suggestions."

"Precisely what we had in mind." Rani declared as she and Nova walked over to the front gate to the castle. As they walked over to the front gate, they suddenly heard a voice shout "Stop!" and Kiriko immediatedly turned around to see who it was. The girls were met by a tall muscular man in a suit of armor missing only his helmet. He had fair skin, lavender hair that reached his jaw and blue eyes with a stern look in them.

"What business do you have at the castle?" He asked them.

Kiriko felt slightly intimidated but did her best to introduce herself and the team saying," W-we are the Pretty Cure and we have come to hold a meeting with the King and Queen."

The man then kneeled slightly and looked at Kiriko inquisitively, causing her face to flush bright red.

 _"Oh dear god, I went and said something wrong didn't I? I shouldn't have been so demanding asking to see both the king and queen, I should've only said one! But if I left the other out, that would've looked sketchy! Jeez, he's been quiet for too long, is he going to let us in or not?"_ Kiriko said in her head, trying to look calm as the man inspected her.

"You said you girls are the Pretty Cure?" He asked, with Kiriko nodding in response.

His stood up straight and then said as he held hand out saying," Please follow me."

The man led the way into the castle and Kiriko exhaled a deep breath of relief. Kiriko then started to look around the castle and took note of how elegant the interior of the castle looked. She expected nothing less from the royal family, but she was a bit surprised by how empty the castle seemed as she only saw a grand total of two maids cross their path.

Asuna took notice of Mari staring at the knight who was leading them to the king and queen.

"He's probably too old for you." Asuna whispered flatly to Mari, who shook her head in response.

"No, he looks very familiar,I feel like I know him but I can't put my finger on it." Mari said, brows furrowed as she looked at the knight's back.

Asuna nodded in understanding and then the knight stopped in front of a door and knocked on it.

"Come in." A feminine voice said from inside the room.

The knight opened the door and inside was a woman with blonde and pink hair wearing a crown and gold dress. She was watering some plants inside the room, decorated with only some other plants, a table with some chairs around it, a pair of thrones and a carpet leading up to them. Sunlight poured in from the bay windows and hit her crown, causing the gems to glint in the light. The woman smiled at the girls and the knight led them into the room.

He then got on one knee and bowed his head saying," The Pretty Cure have arrived to discuss their mission with you. I'll take my leave to let you speak in private."

"Thank you, Knight River." The Queen said as River stood and exited the room," Welcome girls! I am Queen Imogen, ruler of the Laruan Kingdom. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Kiriko was unsure of what to do, so she just did an awkward curtsy and said,"It's a pleasure to meet you too. Your kingdom is very beautiful, it's something most of us would've never even hope to set foot in. It's really amazing!"

"Oh, why thank you!" Imogen beamed as she led the girls to the table in the corner of the room." Now let's get down to business."

The girls nodded in agreements and took seats at the table. Kiriko collected her thoughts, trying to think of how she was going to debrief Imogen on all that had happened since the girls began their mission. There was so much to discuss, but the question was, how much information did Imogen want? Kiriko wasn't sure how much she wanted to hear but she figured the queen would interrupt in the case that she did find any need for the smaller details.

"So, have you girls found any leads on my daughter Arabella as of yet?" Imogen asked before Kiriko was able to give her status report.

Kiriko was caught off-guard, but she didn't she show it and responded quickly saying," As of now, no leads have been uncovered. We originally suspected that Lilith was holding her hostage but-"

"-It feels off, right? I mean, if she did have her, she would've told us and try and make us some kind of offer to exchange the kingdom for her." Imogen theorized as she fidgeting with her bracelets.

Kiriko nodded in response and then said," But, in regards to the _Well of Wonder_ , we know that Lilith is currently in possession of that but, she can't get it to work."

"Can't get it work?" Imogen repeated in confusion.

"We think it's missing something, like it's power, or it's magic, because Lilith's team hasn't been taking much action." Mari explained, with Imogen nodding in agreement.

"However, we still feel as if they have been getting stronger faster than we have so, to catch up to them, we came here to get stronger." Asuna debriefed in a somewhat impatient tone. Kiriko gave her a unapproving look and then Imogen cleared her throat before she gave her response.

"Well, I'm very glad to hear you girls are taking the initiative to go and train here in the kingdom. There truly isn't a better place for you girls to get stronger than here, where your magic will feel stronger and you'll have a place to get a true feel for your own powers." Imogen said as she stood up from her seat," I'll make arrangements for you girls to train with some of the strongest members in our kingdom. In the meantime, you girls can make use of the opportunity to explore the kingdom."

Imogen and the girls then exited the room and entered the main room of the castle. The main room looked similar to a regular living room with much more lavish furniture and a diamond chandelier hanging in the center. In the room sat three tall teenaged girls who looked identical to each other with cherry pink hair and dark pink eyes wearing yellow, orange and blue dresses. Two of the girls were looking through a book together while the other was adjusting her makeup.

"Girls! These are the Pretty Cure, please make them feel at home." Imogen said before she left the group.

The three girls then excitedly rushed over to the Pretty Cure, all wearing very large smiles on their faces as they approached them.

"It's soooo nice to meet you guys after all this time! You guys are so cute!" The girl dressed in orange gushed as she shook Kiriko's hand excitedly," So my name's Justice, that's Felicity and this is Charity!"

"How's it going?" Charity and Felicity greeted, both of them sounding almost identical to Justice.

"Are you guys triplets?" Kiriko asked, her face turning pale as she tried to remember which name belonged to which girl.

"Yup!" The girls said in unison with Justice adding," We're princesses of the Laruan Kingdom and next in line for the throne but to be honest...none of us really want to do that, so it'd mean the world to us if you found our big sister Bella!"

"Do you think they'd all be queen at the same time?" Sophie whispered into Asuna's ear, with Asuna shrugging in response.

"We're going to take you girls out to town!" Felicity declared as she led the girls outside," There are plenty of things to do in the entertainment district! We can go shopping or go see a play, meet with our friends, and maybe try out that new-"

"Felicity, aren't you forgetting something?" Charity asked as she folded her arms.

"Huh? Oh, how could I forget?" Felicity said clumsily as she called out from the doorway," Guys! We're going out, wanna join us?"

The girls turned around to see who she was talking to. Emerging out from the main hall of the castle was a trio of what appeared to be plush toys. There was a bright yellow and pink macaw, a baby blue seahorse, and pale orange puppy among them. They looked at the triplets expectantly and each plush accompanied a triplet.

Kiriko smiled at the orange pup resting on Justice's shoulder and asked," Is this the plush toy you gave the other half of your Patchwork Heart to?"

Justice nodded in response and then said," He's isn't just a toy! His name is Isaac."

The triplets then led the girls out into the entertainment district. The district was lively and crowded with people today. Nearly everyone in sight had a plush companion by their side. It felt so strange but so welcoming being in the presence of people who cherished their plush toys the way Kiriko did. Hundreds of people they passed by could be seeing with different sorts of plush companions, all sharing the same look of compassion, as if they were talking to a childhood friend, in their eyes as they spoke with their plush companions. Kiriko was very interested in learning more about how the tradition worked, so Justice explained it all to her.

"Basically, at some point in your childhood, you pick the plush toy that you feel you bonded with the most." Justice explained as they continued to walk," For some people it's a tough decision, but for others, it takes no time at all to choose."

Kiriko nodded in understanding and then asked," Was it tough for you to choose Isaac?"

"Not at all!" Justice answered with a grin as she looked over to Isaac," Isaac is particularly special to me. My dad and his brother were the previous owners of him, they found him left behind in a playground. He looked like he had been forgotten about, so they took him home and cleaned him up. A couple of years later, my parents gave him to me as a present."

"And the rest is history!" Isaac concluded with a nod.

As the girls walked through the district, Asuna noticed that they were getting a lot of stares from passerbys, making her feel somewhat tense. She wondered if it was only her that they were staring at, but moments later, she saw a couple looking at Sophie and Mari.

"Do we stick out or something?" Asuna asked Charity as they strolled through the district," Or, did everyone get informed that we arrived?"

"Huh? Oh, we wouldn't do something like that without your consent." Charity reassured as she waved a hand of dismissal," It's probably because of your appearances."

"Our what?" Asuna repeated as she narrowed her eyes at Charity.

Charity gave her a befuddled look and then asked her," You mean you haven't noticed yet? Everyone in the kingdom has bright coloured hair. You guys look...well, drab. Plus your clothes are kinda weird too."

Asuna took a quick look around the district and found that Charity was correct. There wasn't a single person in the vicinity who had a natural hair colour like the Cures. None of the girls had really noticed as of yet, they were all too busy admiring their surroundings to pay much attention to the kingdom's inhabitants.

"But don't worry, hair colours like yours aren't unheard of here, there just really, really uncommon. You'd have to be severely unlucky to have hair that isn't a bright colour. Do most humans on earth have hair like you girls?" Charity asked, with Asuna nodding in response," Then how come her hair is different?"

Charity pointed to Kiriko, who was still talking to Justice about the plush companions. Asuna eyed her teammate suspiciously, the thought had never really came to her until now. Her parents had the same hair colour but darker, so maybe it was just a genetic thing? She didn't seem like the type to dye her hair anyways.

"I think she gets it from her parents." Asuna stated, before the girls crossed paths with a girl who had neon orange and green hair and a quartet of fairies with patchwork designs on them by her side.

"Nice to meet you, Toychest Pretty Cure!" The girl greeted as a large grin appeared on her face. Her voice was upbeat and she dressed in bright hues of yellow and orange. Her clothes looked somewhat similar to athletic wear from earth, with their own quirks to them. The Cures exchanged confused expressions among each other and looked at the girl curiously.

"The name's Mindy. I'm here to help you with phase one of your training!" Mindy explained to the girls as she laced her hands behind her head," These guys here will be helping too. The polar bear is Noli, Lila is the fox, Ellie is the zebra and the chinchilla is Pauly."

"It's nice to meet you guys!" Kiriko beamed as she extended her hand out to Lila.

"The pleasure is all mine!" Lila responded as she shook Kiriko's hand.

"So, are we going to some kinda gym where we can practice using our magic?" Sophie questioned.

"We will get to that but first...we're going to do something bit different." Mindy stated as she started to walk, motioning the girls to follow after her.

The girls parted ways with the triplets now that their training had commenced. Mindy didn't lead them very far off from where they had originally met and had the group in a small bistro populated with maybe three or four other people.

"We will now begin Phase 1 of our training!" Mindy declared as she led the girls to a booth.

Mindy took out a set of papers and pens from her bag and handed them out to the girls as she said," The first thing you girls will be doing is...writing evaluations of your teammates!"

"Come again?" Asuna questioned, not even realizing how disgusted she sounded.

"You heard me. Each member will be writing about the strengths and weaknesses of each Cure on a separate sheet of paper. No one will get to see these pages except me, so in a way, it's completely anonymous. After you girls have finished writing your evaluations, I'll meet with each of you for a one on one." Mindy explained," But I'm sure you girls have nothing to worry about. After all, you've all been working so hard as a team that you should be comfortable in voicing your opinions! Remember, the goal of this isn't for you to break each other down, but rather build yourselves up. Ok? After this, you girls will be leaving the mainland to go train with the Celestians. They are some of the strongest members of the Kingdom, who are detached from the rest of society and take refuge in Celestine Sanctuary."

Sophie and Mari nodded in agreement, but it appeared that Kiriko and Asuna were already getting in over their heads, thinking about what types of critiques and comments would appear during these evaluations.

 _"I'm gonna get complaints about my fighting style, I'm sure of it!"_ Asuna thought to herself in a panic.

 _"I doubt there these guys will be holding back, I can't be sensitive about these things!"_ Kiriko thought to herself before she noticed her fellow Cures were already writing their evaluations down, leading her to follow suite.

As Asuna completed her first critique, she started to devise plans on how she could find out who wrote each evaluation. The idea of not knowing who said what was bothering her a lot and it looked like a good way to instill a feeling of distrust among the group. Asuna wondered if that was Mindy's intent as she wrote her critiques. Another thought appeared into Asuna's mind as she wrote down her critiques. She lifted her head for a split second to check and see if anyone had completed their critiques. Everyone was still working away so she took the opportunity to take her phone out to perform some safety precautions.

As Kiriko was writing down her critiques, she realized she was taking a lot more time than she anticipated. Usually, offering people advice and constructive criticism was her strong suite. But this time, things weren't as easy. Kiriko looked at her teammates for a moment. She didn't want to hurt their feelings and she didn't want to get crushed by what her friends had to say about her. The idea of these critiques being anonymous were also making her uneasy, so she tried to think of a way to identify which critique belonged to her fellow Cures.

 _"Asuna will probably be using slang in hers, and could even use some bad words. Sophie's been writing pretty quickly, so her responses will likely either be shorter, or have some grammatical errors."_ Kiriko analyzed in her head as she was finishing up her last critique _," And I've never even heard Mari ever say anything negative, so chances are there'd be lots of sugar-coating in hers. Wait, what am I doing? I shouldn't be trying to determine who said what. It shouldn't even matter. This is an opportunity for me to get stronger and I should treat it as such!"_

"Alright girls, are you ready?" Mindy asked as she noticed all the girls had stopped writing. The girls nodded in response and so, Mindy collected all their sheets and organized them by Pretty Cure. Mindy skimmed through the pages for a few moments and the girls sat in silence as they waited for came next.

"Ok, how about we begin with Mari?" Mindy suggested as her gaze met the girls'. Mari nodded in response and Mindy walked her towards a table on the opposite end of the bistro.

Mindy and Mari sat on opposite sides of the table, with the four fairies from before.

"Pay no mind to them, they're only here as spectators." Mindy informed her as she made the twelve pages float in the air. The pages swirled around and only four remained, with each Cure's name written at the very top.

"Now then..." Mindy began as she held Mari's page at the top of her stack, reading through the page," Everyone on your team is very glad to have you onboard, especially after the feats of bravery you preformed during the day you awakened as Cure Fantasy."

" "Mari is a hard-working girl who fights for what she believes in. She is full of kindness, positivity and compassion that our team would never want to be without. Sometimes I feel as if Mari is also distant from us at times, she should know that if anything is bothering her that we're her friends and we'd try to help her out!' " Mindy read out, with Mari nodding in response, feeling thankful that the girls hadn't said anything harsh, " 'However, Mari is way too confident in her magical abilities though, she should learn how to make use of other techniques. "

Mindy lifted her head and said," That was the summary of the critique, I'll read you out the full version now."

Once Mindy had completed reading out the evaluation to Mari, Mari stood up from her seat so Sophie could have her turn. As she walked back to the booth, Mari felt apprehensive as she thought about what was said in her appraisal. It was nice to hear that her friends thought she was brave, but the overly confident thing made her feel guilty in her actions. Magic wasn't supposed to be her strongest skill as a Pretty Cure, so if anything, she expected to have at least been commended for her work. Mari then took a seat a the booth and told Sophie her turn had arrived.

Sophie walked up to Mindy's table and Mindy greeted her warmly.

"Cure Bubbly, the energetic Pretty Cure." Mindy remarked before she read through Sophie's critique," Your team is very proud of everything you've accomplished so far. They admire your persistence, all your hard work and your self-motivation. 'Sophie is a bright girl in both personality and wit. She will always put her best foot forward and is easily the most cheerful member of our team. Sophie should consider relying on her teammates more often though when she is met with a crisis, as she tends to depend on only herself during a fight. Sophie should also try and better prioritize her Pretty Cure business above her other activities, since these are always more important."

After Mindy completed Sophie's critique, Asuna was called on next.

"Cure Teddy..." Mindy began as she scanned through her page," Everyone on your team knows you're an indispensable member through and through. You fight with so much passion and determination, it really shows how much this Pretty Cure mission means to you!"

Asuna held back on a smile, thinking to herself _," Half the time I'm just fighting to blow off steam, but whatever."_

" 'Asuna is a girl I know I can always depend on in battle no matter what. I admire her fighting style and sense of urgency during a battle, her friendship also means the world to me. However, I do believe that Asuna doesn't put her teammates in a very high regard, it's disrespectful and she should work on her people skills." Mindy read aloud.

Asuna rolled her eyes, and then tried to take the paper saying," What else does it say?"

Mindy then leaned back a bit and kept Asuna away from the page, saying," You don't get your copy to read until later, ok?"

Soon, Kiriko's turn came and the wait had been killing her. After all this time, a bunch of different scenarios appeared in Kiriko's head to the point where she was now dreading these evaluations. She had also noticed her friends seemed a bit tense after completing theirs. When Asuna returned to the booth, Kiriko walked rigidly to Mindy's table.

Kiriko sat at Mindy's table, giving Mindy a rather forced smile as she joined her hands together. Mindy then put the pages down on her lap as she looked over to Kiriko saying,

"You have nothing to worry about. Remember, we want to help you improve, alright?"

Kiriko nodded attentively and Mindy began her evaluation.

"Alright, Cure Dolly..." Mindy began as she started to read through the page," The Toychest Pretty Cure team could never function without you, you know that right? Your quick-wit and ability to analyze situations with ease has proved itself to be useful on countless occasions. 'Kiriko is a kind and caring girl, we couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful leader. Kiriko never fails to impress with her sharp wit during battle and she'll always try to cheer us on. Kiriko should remember though that as a team, she should keep in mind her own teams strengths and weaknesses. She is unfortunately a reclusive leader who should really try and become more open with us. She'll do things on her own without our input, like she thinks she doesn't need it. She always treats us like outsiders without a second thought outside of Pretty Cure stuff."

The critique that Kiriko was given had bothered her slightly, but she didn't vocalize her thoughts. She knew she wasn't supposed to take this stuff to heart, she was supposed to be more inviting to constructive criticism. But nothing about that summary's last point felt constructive. It felt as if someone on her team didn't like her as leader as much as she thought. Kiriko really didn't want to get in over her head so she tried thinking of other things to occupy herself.

Kiriko, Mindy and the fairies all went back to the booth that the rest of the girls were sitting at. Kiriko glanced at her teammates and it appeared their moods didn't improve all that much since she last saw them.

"Well, are we going to go meet with those Celestial people now?" Asuna asked, her tone sounding rather impatient.

"We have more thing left to do before that." Mindy declared," Follow me."

The girls did as told and followed Mindy out of the bistro, all wearing the same uneasy expressions on their faces.

"So, how did you feel about your evaluation?" Pauly asked Sophie as the group walked on.

"I dunno. I was sure I was going to be ok with the critique but..." Sophie began hesitantly, looking both ways before continuing her sentence,"There were some uncalled for things said in mine."

"Really?" Pauly asked in concern, with Sophie nodding in response.

Sophie replied with, "Someone had the nerve to say I-!"

"-Sophie, you're falling behind." Kiriko called out tonelessly as the group waited on her and Pauly.

The girls all stood in a plain field, waiting for Mindy to give her next instructions. Mindy then smiled to the girls and picked out a key charm from the many charms she had slung on her necklace. With the amount of charms on that thing, it looked less like a necklace and more like a key holder. Mindy then clipped off the charm and twirled the key in midair as if she was opening up a door.

"Your next part of training will be..." Mindy began as the group was transported into a dark maze,"...Reach the center of this maze!"

The girls somehow transformed during their transportation into the maze and were now in their Cure forms. Once the looked around, they realized the maze was not in fact poorly lit but rather, it was lit with ultraviolet lights.

"Cool, this sorta looks like the jungle gym at Hopper's," Teddy remarked as she stretched her arms out.

"All members of your team have to make it to the center at the same time. If you leave a teammate behind or let a teammate go on ahead, you'll all be disqualified and won't move forward to your next training session." Mindy explained briskly," There are obstacles in the maze that can be removed, but some need more work than others. And with that, I wish you all the best of luck!"

Mindy and the fairies then disappeared, leaving the girls all by themselves.

Dolly then looked around trying to see which path made more sense to follow. The girls were in the middle of a hall with the only options available to them being left or right. As Dolly tried weighing out her options, she remembered her friends' critique on her performance and started to wonder if she should even be the one making the decision.

 _"There's someone on the team who probably doesn't want me choosing which way to go..."_ Dolly thought to herself," Ok, guys! Where should we go?"

The Cures looked somewhat surprised that Dolly wasn't providing with her decision. It was a pleasant surprise in a way but, the Cures didn't have much sense of direction here. The three of them examined both sides and tried to decide which route to take. Dolly was standing impatiently, waiting for one of the Cures to say something.

"Let's go that way!" Teddy declared as she point to the right side of the hall. Dolly made a face but went along with Teddy's choice.

The girls walked into the right hall and found there weren't any obstacles in sight. At least, there weren't any as of yet. Teddy was leading the way now and lead the girls through the right hall, only to have been met with a fork in the road.

One side led to a dead-end, the other had a floating square obstacle in it's path made from what appeared to be water. The obstacle rose up very high so the Cures couldn't even climb around it. Teddy poked it curiously and it jiggled slightly, as if it was a water-bed.

"What the heck is this supposed to be?" Teddy questioned as she poked the cube again.

"I think it's one of those removable obstacles Mindy was talking about!" Bubbly surmised as she took a closer look at the cube," But, how are we supposed to get rid of this thing?"

The Cures stared at the cube for a while, with none of them making any suggestions on how to get rid of it. Dolly had an idea, but she didn't want to voice her suggestion and instead waited for someone else to say it for her.

"Dolly, you've been awfully quiet." Teddy pointed out a few moments later," Have anything in mind?"

"Well..." Dolly began awkwardly..." If it's made from water, I think it'd be best to freeze it so we could break it apart."

"Ok." Teddy said, though she didn't sound too impressed," So why did it take you so long to say that? And why didn't you say anything when I picked the right side?"

"You did make a disapproving face." Fantasy pointed out bashfully," But anyways, how do you suppose we freeze it?"

Dolly then answered with," You and Bubbly had made a freezing attack with your powers combined some time ago, so maybe that could work here. And I didn't want to say anything because...I didn't want to leave you guys out and just take the lead as always, since someone on the team thinks I do that too much."

"If you want our input, that's fine, but if you have a valid reason behind your decision, like you always do, then of course we're going to follow your lead." Teddy reminded her as she crossed her arms," That's why you're the _leader_ , remember?"

Dolly was getting a bit frustrated and responded with,"I only took a step back because I'm trying to improve for you guys, I mean we are a team, aren't we?"

Dolly then decided it was best that she dropped the subject for now and return her attention to the problem at hand. She then looked over expectantly to Bubbly and Fantasy, asking the two of them,

"So, you'll do it, right?"

The two Cures nodded in response and they joined hands. The two of them were concentrating their magic into their palms, but this time, Bubbly noticed that something seemed off but she didn't comment on it. The two of them then held out their hands together, but all that came out was a shot of water.

"Fantasy, what's going on?" Dolly asked, not realizing how impatient she sounded.

Fantasy looked down at her hands for a few moments, having an idea as to why her part of the attack didn't go through, but she wasn't willing to explain why. She looked over to her fellow Cures, who all had the same worried expression on her face. She had a feeling she was going to make a scene, so she stayed silent for a bit longer.

The four fairies had watched their fight from the top of the maze walls. The four of them seemed to be divided in how they were responding to the events happening below them. Ellie and Pauly were watching the group intently, giving the Cures their undivided attention. The girls were getting awfully dramatic and it was getting really good to watch, if only they had popcorn on hand.

Noli and Lila though seemed a bit disappointed in the girls as they watched the four of them bicker.

"Man, these girls could never compare to Cure Cheer! All they do is argue with each other." Lila remarked as she pressed her paw against her cheek," Their trust in each other is embarrassingly low; Think Cheer would've approved of these girls being her successors?"

"Only time will tell." Noli responded with a sigh.

"I don't think my powers are working because..." Fantasy began hesitantly,"...Because someone here thinks I'm too confident in my powers!"

"Again with the someone here." Teddy stated as she held back on a groan," We won't get anywhere here if we keep thinking someone on the team is out to get us."

"I know this might not sound very helpful but...who did the comment sound like it came from?" Dolly asked briskly. She looked over to Teddy, expecting her to be rolling her eyes at the question but instead she had her focus on Fantasy.

Fantasy then answered with,"To be honest, it sounded like you, Cure Bubbly."

Bubbly looked somewhat confused, eyes wide as she said," I didn't write anything like that, honest!"

The three Cures gave her uncertain looks, only making her feel worse. Bubbly sighed, knowing that her claims alone wouldn't have been enough, but she wasn't sure of what else she could say. They were still giving her those unsure expressions and all she was able to do was blurt out,

"You guys just have to trust me!"

"I trust you, Cure Bubbly." Dolly claimed in strangely calm tone," But, somehow I feel as if you weren't the only one who's been framed."

"I can prove to you guys I didn't write anything bad, at least, not for Dolly." Teddy said as she took out her phone and showed Dolly a picture on it. Dolly took a closer look at it, and found that it was Teddy's evaluation of her. Dolly read through it quickly and was surprised to find that it was the exact opposite of what she had expected.

"Kiriko is a kind and caring girl and we couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful leader..." Dolly read aloud, her face turning red.

"Don't read it out loud." Teddy grumbled as her gaze went to the floor," But anyways, this just proves our evaluations have been tampered with! Everyone had something mean said in their evaluations but I'm sure none of us even wrote anything of the sort!"

"It seems these evaluations weren't only for us to improve...they wanted to test how well we trusted each other." Dolly concluded as she looked at the obstacle in front of them," And chances are, most of these obstacles will need teamwork, so we couldn't even continue otherwise."

The Cures nodded in response and Bubbly then said," Well, that was quite the mean trick. Fantasy! Let's blow this obstacle apart and show them our trust is way stronger than they thought!"

Fantasy nodded and the two tried again, concentrating their powers into their joined hands once more. This time, when the two directed their hands in front of the obstacle, a beam of ice shot out through their palms and froze the obstacle. The four of them were shocked to find that the obstacle froze, just like Dolly said.

Dolly felt excited rushing through her as she announced," Now all we have to do is-!"

Teddy then gave the frozen obstacle a powerful kick and smashed the obstacle into smithereens. The bits of ice fell to their feet and the girls just stared at them blankly for a few moments.

"-That." Dolly said as Teddy gave her a thumbs-up," Ok, let's keep moving!"

The team walked through the maze, feeling a lot more at ease now knowing that no one on the team was secretly looking down on them. There were lots of forks in the road and dead-ends but it wasn't as stressful now with the team functioning as they always did. Soon enough, the team had cleared through most of the obstacles and were nearing the center of the maze.

The girls were then met with an obstacle made entirely from steel. It hadn't been floating like the other ones, it was just a steel wall in between the girls and the rest of the maze.

"How are we supposed to get through this one?" Fantasy asked quietly as the girls surveyed the steel wall.

"I've got an idea!" Teddy exclaimed," I can just burn a hole through it!"

"Ok, then I'll cool it down so we'll be able to pass through it quicker." Dolly suggested, with Teddy nodding in response.

"Pretty Cure, flame of hope!" Teddy shouted. She hadn't burnt a hole big enough into the wall, so she had to focus and use her attack as if it was a laser. It was taking much more time than she expected, as it was tiring her out quick, but she wasn't keen on giving up just yet.

Fantasy watched her struggle with burning the hole and knew that Teddy wasn't able to do this for much longer without recharging, so she put both her hands on top of Teddy's. Teddy looked behind and was about to ask her what she was doing, but Fantasy cut her off.

"I'm going to do my best to help, ok?" Fantasy stated, with Teddy nodding in return.

The two Cures were able to make the burning process quicker by using their powers together. After a few moments, the girls were finally able to burn a hole big enough for them to pass through the steel wall.

"Pretty Cure, Wishful Cyclone!" Dolly shouted, causing a pair of pink and violet whirlwinds to shoot out from her palms. Teddy and Bubbly braced themselves for impact, remembering what happened the last time Dolly used that attack. But this time, it wasn't as strong. The two of them looked over to Dolly and saw that her attack had felt more like a giant fan set on its highest mode.

"What are you two doing?" Dolly asked them as she narrowed her eyes at the girls. The steel had cooled down shortly after and the girls were ready to pass through. They advanced pass the obstacle and finally were able to reach the center of the maze. The center had a half circle of candles behind Mindy and the fairies had returned to her side.

"Congratulations girls, I'm impressed." Mindy remarked," It's not an easy thing to pass through a maze with your entire team when your teammates are suspicious of you. You girls were right, this was not just a test of teamwork but also of trust and you all passed. Unfortunately, my time with you all has come to an end, the Celestians will be handling the rest of your training. These guys will take you to them."

"Mindy, your key?" Noli asked as he held out his paw. Mindy fished for the key Noli requested from her set and gave it to him. He then turned the key in midair and motioned the Pretty Cure to walk through the door. The Cures walked through, one by one but once they reached the other side, they couldn't find their teammates.

"Guys? Guys?!" Bubbly shouted out as she looked around her surroundings. She was in a misty field, abundant with white and pink lilies. Not a single soul could be found and the more time she was without her teammates, the more anxious she became.

"Where did everyone go?" She asked in a quiet voice.

Dolly and Fantasy were both by themselves in a field filled with flowers identical to the ones around Bubbly, but they too were all by themselves. But just then, they each discovered one of the fairies standing before them.

"Where the hell am I?" Teddy asked as she looked around the field curiously before she saw a giant gold gate with Noli in front of it," Noli? Where did everyone go? Did something go wrong when we were heading to the Celestians?"

Noli turned her back on her to face the gate, as if he was planning to open it. It seemed like a near impossible task with his size, but Teddy didn't comment on it.

"Nope, everything is just as it's supposed to be." Noli said, transforming in mid-sentence into a boy who seemed older than Teddy with fair skin and very pale powder blue hair. He opened the gate and lead her into an empty training field.

"Welcome to the Celestine Sanctuary." He said to her, extending his arms to punctuate his welcome," My real name is Niles, I am one of the Celestians, and you will be fighting me."

"What?!" Teddy shouted in pure shock.


	22. The Celestians' Sanctuary

Cure Dolly stood her ground and eyed her newly dubbed opponent, who was laughing at the fact that the girls had no idea that the fairies were the Celestians. Standing a few feet in front of Dolly was a fair-skinned girl with red lips and thistle-coloured hair that traveled to her knees held by a pink bow. The girl, formerly known as Lila, offered Dolly yet another look of pity once her laughter had died down and then she took a deep breath. She gave Dolly a smile and twirled around once, her long hair and sleeves swaying with her as she did so.

"My name is Ophelia and our destiny is to fight!" Ophelia declared in an awfully cheerful voice," Now, Cure Dolly, leader of the Toychest Pretty Cure, come and show me what's in like to fight you one on one!"

Dolly was originally feeling a bit worried at first, not being very fond of hurting a little fairy, but by now she figured that her fairy form was likely just a disguise. Dolly was amped up and ready to fight. She held her fists in front of herself and took on a fighting stance, saying,

"I'm ready when you are!"

Bubbly was in an empty stadium, on the field with a tan boy who was quite tall and had some muscle on him. He stared Bubbly down, waiting for her move since he said he'd let her 'swing first'. He could already tell Bubbly was feeling indecisive and was trying her hardest to come up with some kinda plan, it was written all over her face. He shook his head and then took a step closer, causing her to step back and almost fall backwards into one of the many decorative fountains in the empty field.

"Keep this up and I'm taking your turn!" The boy warned her as a stream of water emerged out from the ground and lifted him up. He didn't do anything except continue to wait for her move. Bubbly panicked and then sputtered out,

"What do you expect me to do, Pauly? I mean, Porter!"

Porter laced his hands behind his head and sighed saying," It's obvious you aren't the most strategic member on your team. My question is how will you fare against an opponent who uses the same element as you, but at a much more powerful caliber?"

Bubbly had a nervous look on her face, her heart racing in distress from being reminded about this. She tried thinking and attempted to clear her mind but just then, she suddenly got hit with a tendril made from water and was sent flying into the walls of the stadium.

"You took too long!" Porter called out as Bubbly shivered from getting drenched by the attack," This is where the fun begins."

The girl sitting cross-legged on top of a tree stump narrowed her eyes at Fantasy, standing a few feet away from her. Fantasy's fists were balled up and she looked frustrated at she glared at the girl dressed in orange and white. The short girl narrowed her amber eyes at Fantasy only shaking her head in disapproval every time Fantasy tried to attack.

Fantasy then tried again, placing her arms in front of herself, getting ready to do another attack. But once again, the girl wouldn't let her attack go through.

"Rescind." The girl, Eloise, said, her tone bored and the look in her eye devoid of emotion. She watched Fantasy look down at her hands and simply rolled her eyes at the sight. Eloise could see that Fantasy didn't have any idea of what else she could, and already she had a feeling that this fight would end quickly.

 _"So she really is hopeless without her powers."_ Eloise thought to herself _," How ironic."_

"For goodness' sake, why don't you just leave that spot and just fight me already?" Fantasy questioned in a rather irritated tone as she crossed her arms.

"I thought you were supposed to be the mature one." Eloise pointed out as she changed positions, now laying on her side," How do you expect to become stronger if you're trying to bargain this early in a fight? If I won't let up so easy, do you really think Lilith will?

Fantasy didn't say another word, knowing that Eloise was right and tried to think of another way to make her leave the barrier.

Taking a look around the giant field she and Niles were standing in, Teddy felt somewhat unease with this absence of ambient noises she was so used to during a fight. With no roars from Defectives, or the sounds of people running from the scene or her fellow teammates, the almost silent field was slowly but surely messing with her concentration. This fight had yet to even start and she already knew it likely was going to be like the others she had. This fight was free of any real consequences, or at least that what's Teddy assumed.

As if reading her mind, Niles began to speak and make some things clear about this fight.

"Let's set up some rules." Niles declared as he took a few steps closer to Teddy," If you lose, you have to give up your title as Pretty Cure and I will find a replacement for you. Someone who's actually from the kingdom this time. For this battle, your goal is to of course defeat me. You may use all the resources you have available to you here, just use them wisely."

Teddy rolled her eyes and simply loosened herself up a bit while Niles gave her a curious look. Despite that this wasn't what she had expecting, she didn't want to let her surprise become a hindrance to her. She may not have had her teammates with her, but she told herself that she was just fighting against one person, no Defectives, no victims, just her and Niles.

Teddy then dashed towards him as fast as she could, creating a pair of fireballs in her palms. Teddy lunged towards him, stepping off the ground, only for a giant wall made of ice to appear and block her off from Niles. Teddy was barely able to keep herself from crashing head first into the wall and Niles shook his head, letting the wall of ice recede back into the Earth. Teddy stepped back and extinguished the spheres in her hands.

Niles then created a pair of swords made from ice and held them in both of his hands, pointing the right one at Teddy.

"Still feeling confident?" Niles asked her, only aggravating the Cure clad in brown. Teddy stood still for a few moments, trying to keep herself from letting Niles get to her. With only the two of them in the field, she was then reminded that she didn't need to worry about cooperating with the other girls and she could be as reckless as she wanted. The thought of that made Teddy full with excitement and so, she darted up towards Niles and engaged in battle with him. She threw a handful of punches rapidly and Niles dodged each one. He was quite nimble and light on his feet, it was as if he was in tune with Teddy and knew exactly when and where she was going to attack.

Teddy managed to land one single punch on him but then Niles had disintegrated into a million shards of ice at her feet. Teddy stared at the pile of ice at her feet for a few moments, and then turned around and saw Niles dashing towards her with the pair of ice swords in hand aimed towards her. Teddy took a step back and evaded the attack, managing to get a hold of Niles and hold his hands behind his back in the process.

Niles dropped the swords made from ice and Teddy simply smirked.

"Yeah, I'm still feeling confident. Guess I had no need to feel otherwise." Teddy stated as she watched Niles writhe in her clutch. The ice swords then retreated into the ground and shot back out a pair of tendrils that circled around Teddy and trapped her within them. Her clutch of Niles was broken and Niles turned around, looking at her with an unimpressed look in his eye.

"You're awfully brash, you know." Niles said as he watched Teddy bang her fist against the ice imprisonment. The ice around her then morphed into a gigantic hand and held her on top of its palm, allowing her to be at eye-level with Niles.

"You won't get far as a Pretty Cure." Niles surmised to her in a condescending tone, as the hand then held her up high and tossed her to the other side of the field," Your career ends here!"

Teddy landed a few feet away from an assortment of rocks in the field, exhaling out a giant sigh before she got back onto her feet and ran towards Niles.

Dolly was busy dodging a mass of attacks from Ophelia. Ophelia wasn't as swift as Dolly when it came to attacking but after getting hit in the stomach by Ophelia, she knew she couldn't afford to take any damage from her. Ophelia was rather agile though, she had an elegance to her fighting style and there was some sort of irregular rhythm in her movements. But the way she moved wasn't enough for Dolly to estimate where should try to attack next and she had mostly been evading her attacks during this battle.

Ophelia then jumped backwards and crossed her arms as she said," You won't get anywhere from simply dodging."

Dolly then jumped forward to engage in battle with her again.

 _"She's right! But I've been getting in over my head, worrying about what will happen if I mess up here."_ Dolly thought as she dodged a punch to the stomach from Ophelia _," This is no time to be freaking out! I got this! I just have to find her weak spot, like always."_

Ophelia then decided to leap up into the air, but unlike Dolly, gravity didn't seem to have much of an effect on her so she hovered a few feet above Dolly trying to figure out what next to do. She stared at the Lead Cure watching her intently, already feeling bored knowing what Dolly's fighting style was like. Since the beginning of the battle, Ophelia could tell that Dolly was the analytic observant type, calculating and estimating each and every single move in a frantic attempt to boil her down to a science. She thought this was going to be far more entertaining, fighting one on one against the leader but who would've guessed she was fighting a practically humanoid calculator?

Ophelia then extended her right arm up and held her palm out in front of Dolly. Dolly stood her ground, as if she was bracing for an attack, like a tornado but nothing of the sort appeared and instead, flowers started to bloom in abundance from the ground.

Dolly looked around the field curiously, the only flowers that were in the vicinity had been outside of the gate and they didn't resemble the ones sprouting out from the ground. There were daisies, lavenders and green roses among the assembly of flowers growing out from the ground and they all carried a rather strong fragrance. The more flowers appeared out into the field, the stronger the scent grew, to the point where it was overwhelming and Dolly collapsed to her knees, covering her nose as she started coughing.

"These are poisoned aren't they? This is cheating and you know it!" Dolly shouted between coughs in a tone that Ophelia registered as obnoxiously righteous.

Dolly then felt her eyelids grow heavy and she knew was losing consciousness fast. She fought desperately to stay awake but after a few moments, she had fallen asleep in the flowerbed. Ophelia finally descended back onto the earth, standing in front of Dolly with her arms folded over her chest, as if she was keeping watch on her.

Ophelia did admit, she hadn't planned on using this tactic so early in her fight against Dolly, but fighting her was boring! She thought things over so much she completely took away all the fun of it and stripped the fight down into nothing but a series of missteps. She materialized a tree shaped like a chair and she sat on it as she watched over Dolly.

"This is what you get for being so rigid." Ophelia said to the unconscious Cure Dolly," You wanna think until your brain hurts? Be my guest. Let's see if you can think yourself out of the flowers' artificial paradise."

Dolly stirred after a few moments and found herself alone in a pitch black room. There was an awfully bright spotlight on her but she couldn't see anyone else around. Dolly felt her stomach tie into knots under the spotlight and wondered exactly where she was. She then heard voices whispering but she couldn't tell what they were saying. They did sound familiar, but Dolly had trouble identifying them and couldn't even hope to find where they were coming from in this strangely lit room.

"Kiriko is such a hard worker, I hope one day I can be like her!" A familiar voice said cheerfully. Dolly smiled and looked to the ground for a few moments, not even annoyed that she couldn't figure out whose voice this was. It felt nice to be indirectly applauded for her efforts, even if she had just been trying to figure out her surroundings moments prior.

"Kiriko sure is mature, she's got this elegant atmosphere around her. I always feel like I'm in the presence of royalty when she's nearby!" Another familiar voice, causing Dolly's face to flush red.

"Aw you're so sweet! But I'm really just like everyone else." Dolly reassured, though she wasn't certain if the voices could hear her.

Ophelia saw a smile form on Dolly's face and she smirked at the sight of it, not even the slightest bit surprised that Dolly had already fallen into her trap.

"Good girl, go forth and fall victim to this fake paradise built from your selfish desires. Fill yourself with ecstasy as you indulge in your most favourite thing of all and then watch it fall apart right before you. I wonder how long you'll last." Ophelia thought aloud as she started to play with strands of her curly hair.

Bubbly ducked quickly and squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see what happened to the brittle trees that were behind her. She was sure she was going to hear a snapping sound once the powerful blast of water hit them, but somehow they weathered the attack. If they were back on earth, those trees would've most definitely snapped in half from Porter's attack. Bubbly then reminded herself she was in the middle of a fight and she had no time to waste. Bubbly then started running up towards Porter and jumped up high as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!"

Porter rolled his eyes and waved his hand from side to side and shouted," Aqua twin dragons!"

A pair of dragons made of water came charging towards Bubbly, her attack having zero effect on them. The dragons swirled around and tossed Bubbly up into the air. She was up high as if tossing her was like hitting a beach ball. The dragons retreated back to Porter, floating behind him as Bubbly plunged back to earth.

"Pretty Cure, Bubbling Impact!" Bubbly shouted as she fell. She created a bubble on the ground beneath her and bounced off it, landing on her feet in front of Porter.

Porter knelt next to her, a look of sympathy in his eyes. Bubbly didn't meet his gaze though, too ashamed by all of her attempts so far in trying to defeat him. She knew she wasn't getting anywhere but she couldn't think of anything that would work against him when they had the same powers.

"It doesn't feel good watching a pretty girl like yourself struggle so much." Porter admitted as he put a firm hand on her shoulder," It'd be easier to quit while your ahead."

Bubbly shook her head vigorously and removed his hand from her shoulder saying," I don't want your pity and I'm not gonna quit no matter what!"

The dragons then appeared from behind Porter and shot tendrils of hot water from their mouth. Bubbly held her hand in front of herself but they didn't provide her much protection and instead tossed her towards the fountain.

"Fighting with hot water should be illegal!" Bubbly said, her back against the fountain. Bubbly stretched out her hands, not realizing she was putting her hands into the fountain's water. Her eyes then opened wide as she noticed something strange about the fountain's water.

Fantasy had tried her best to get Eloise to come out from her barrier, but Eloise seem to have no interest in leaving. The white-haired Cure had been patient, perceptive even, trying to understand Eloise's intentions and knowing she meant well. But as time dragged on without any progression from Fantasy, her patience was wearing thin. At this point, it felt like Eloise wasn't even interested in mentoring her but rather making her feel useless.

Fantasy did everything she could think of, from turning their battlefield into a candy paradise, to making it seem that all the trees in the field were floating away but nothing seemed to work on Eloise. It didn't make sense for Eloise to seal herself up in a barrier when the goal was to help Fantasy train.

"Why are you being so lazy?" Fantasy questioned is a restless voice," Don't you want to help me?"

Eloise, who hadn't been even looking at Fantasy for a while now, looked her dead in the eyes, an unimpressed look on her face as she said," I'm being lazy? You're the one who's not even trying! All you've done is conjure up pointless diversions thoughtlessly. You're wasting your time if you think something as simple as that will you get me to leave."

Fantasy stayed quiet for a few moments and felt guilty with Eloise's stare lingering. It seemed like she had more to say but was holding back. The quiet between them didn't last long though and Eloise continued to speak,  
"You're the Pretty Cure of dreams and illusions aren't you?" Eloise asked her impatiently," If your magic is so strong that you have no other choice than to rely solely on it, then show me _why_."

Fantasy drew out a deep breath, more than annoyed by Eloise's lack of cooperating, even if she claimed otherwise. She looked up to the sky and wondered if her fellow teammates were having the same issues with their Celestian mentor like her. She then decided to put an end to her complaining and tried once more to get Eloise out from her barrier. Fantasy then held her hands together and took a seat while crossing her legs, mirroring Eloise's figure. Fantasy closed her eyes and relaxed herself, as if she was going to meditate.

"As a child, I admired Cure Cheer with all my heart. I thought she was noble, strong, and brave and she was everything I aspired to be when I got older." Fantasy said, though it didn't seem like she was talking to Eloise but rather explaining herself for her own sake.

"But I knew because I had no magic, I couldn't completely be just like her. At best, I could be the human version of her. So when fate allowed me to be a Pretty Cure, I knew this was my chance to become the hero I want to be, to finally be the next Cure Cheer."

Eloise's interest had been piqued, but it only took a few moments for her to lose interest in what Fantasy had to say. She rolled her eyes once more at the sentiment that hundreds across the land shared with Fantasy. Sure, they wanted to be her, but did they know exactly what that even meant?

A somewhat pained smile arose to Fantasy's face as she said," But I can try all I'd like. I can train for endless hours in hopes of reaching her level. There's no such thing as the next Cure Cheer and that's how it should be. There's only me, the Pretty Cure of dreams and fascination, Cure Fantasy!"

Porter had stood a few feet across from the fountain, a brash expression plastered on his face as he glowered to Bubbly with his twin dragons behind him. Bubbly was hiding timidly behind the fountain, staring at the water bubbling inside of it. It would only be a matter of time now.

Porter crossed his arms and took one step closer to Bubbly as he said," You're not doing such a good job in hiding here you know. Have you seriously run out of ideas, of tactics? After all this time, have you not made some kind of strategy? How do you plan to face Asperity in the shape you're in?"

"I'll figure it out! Just you watch!" Bubbly claimed as she started running away from the fountain. Porter sighed and rode on the back of one of his water dragons to catch up to her. It didn't take very long for him to have her cornered by the walls of the stadium. Bubbly frantically looked at Porter, her breathing get quick and she placed her hands against the walls of the stadium. Porter offered her a pitied smile and got off of his dragon and slowly walked towards her.

"This is why teams don't work. You think that just because you lack in one skill your teammate will cover for you but what shall happen if you're to separate? Only the strong survive." Porter declared sternly as he held his hand up towards her,"... And unfortunately, you're not one of them."

When he held his hand out, he intended to have a hand made from water reach out to the defenseless Bubbly and rip the brooch off from her bow, causing her transformation to undo itself but instead, bubbles were blown out from his palms. He looked at his hand curiously for a moment and tried once more but again, only bubbles were shooting out. He then inspected his palms closely with his dragon following suite.

"What's going on?" He questioned in a near frantic voice as the bubbles continued to disperse from his palms.

"Pretty Cure, Bubbling Impact!" Bubbly then shouted. Porter jerked his head towards Bubbly but was too late to defend himself against the attack and was encased in a giant bubble. It seemed impossible to pop the gigantic bubble as he banged his fists against it. The bubble floated up a few feet into the air and Porter gawked at Bubbly, who only winked at him saying,

"Told you I'd figure it out."

Eloise looked bored as she eyed Fantasy, who hadn't said or appeared to do anything in a while. It was hard to believe she had hope in her, even if was only for a few fleeting moments. Eloise surmised that Fantasy was all talk, and that came as no surprise to her. Eloise continued to stare at Fantasy and felt not only bad for her, but bad for the entirety of the kingdom. These were the girls her kingdom had to entrust to take back the Well of Wonder and defeat Asperity? She then wondered if their efforts together would've even been on par with the sole Cure Cheer.

Eloise may not have ever met Cure Cheer, but she knew if there was anything certain about her, it was that she was unbelievably strong. It was magic like hers that made people fear for their lives at the mere thought of going against her, of betraying her. But still, despite her abundance in power and magic, despite all the mystery she was shrouded in, Cure Cheer was always said to have been a kind soul. It didn't seem to align with her character and Eloise always envisioned her as the strong, serious type, but she kept her beliefs to herself.

As Eloise was thinking about Cure Cheer, she suddenly found herself watching a little girl walking with her parents, holding hands with the two of them. Eloise felt her heart sink as she watched the little girl, a large smile on her face.

 _"How long ago was this? Decades, centuries?"_ Eloise thought to herself as she suddenly felt very disoriented. Time in the Celestial Sanctuary seemed to never pass, that point was made evident by the fact she and the other Celestians no longer aged, remaining untouched by time. But still, even if many, many years had passed before she became a Celestian, she still could never forget the few memories she had when she was a normal civilian of the kingdom.

"Eloise, it's such a pleasure to finally meet you." A voice said to the little girl, whose parents suddenly vanished but neither she or present day Eloise seemed to notice. In front of the younger Eloise was Cure Cheer, who kneeled down before her and smiled to her.

Cure Cheer was just like how she was said to be, a kind soul who was much more than a strong Pretty Cure. She observed Eloise with her deep turquoise eyes and pulled back a lock of hair that fell out from her high pony-tail.

"Your friend tells me your quite interested in my work and wanted to meet me." Cure Cheer said, though Eloise was still wearing the same look of shock on her face. She had yet to even realize that she was now in the place of her younger self and Cheer was speaking directly to her.

"I...I don't believe this..." Eloise said as she scrutinized Cheer, her thoughts in a mess," You're gone and yet... it feels as if you've never left. You shouldn't be here, you can't be here and yet, it's undeniably you."

"You're a very remarkable person, Eloise," Cheer beamed as she put a hand on her shoulder," You've done so much for this sanctuary, working hard day and night to ensure the land is well-kept, all while staying in the sanctuary, never to return to the outside beyond the gates. You have been doing such a good job alongside the the other Celestians, thank you for all your hard work."

Tears started welling up in Eloise's eyes, she felt her cheeks grow hot and found it near impossible to find her voice. These were things she thought she'd never live to hear and to finally have it happen made her feel completely unsure of how to respond.

"Cure Cheer, you should've been here with the rest of us..." Eloise said quietly as she held her hands over her chest, her head hung," You were so strong, I don't understand...how could you have lost back then?"

Just then, Eloise snapped back to her senses and found herself outside from her barrier and seated on top of a rainbow coloured cloud. Eloise didn't quite understand what had happened for a few moments, still in shock that she met Cheer and saw Fantasy a few feet below her. She blinked a few times and remained for a few moments more. Fantasy then smiled to her and asked,

"Did you have a nice daydream?"

Teddy was in the midst of dodging a flurry of razor-sharp icicles getting thrown at her by Niles. Teddy was quick to dodge but with the amount of the blades made from ice getting thrown at her, she found herself coming close to getting hit quite a few times. One of them nearly sliced open her cheek as she barely dodged it.

Niles didn't seem pleased as he came closer, cornering in on Teddy.

"You're wasting my time." Niles claimed as Teddy melted the icicles near to her, the icicles melting slower than she hoped," I was expecting you better than this, but I guess I should've known better."

Teddy then blasted a fireball in Niles' direction but within an instant, it was frozen in midair. The ball felt on the ground and snapped in two. Niles then made another pair of rapiers made from ice in appear in his hands.

"You sure don't like to give compliments huh?" Teddy asked, moments before Niles swung at her. Teddy barely dodged again and took a step to the side, running into the center of the field. Teddy tripped on a set of rocks beneath her feet and fell to the ground. She scurried to get back onto her feet, but then she found she was unable to move. She looked down to her legs and discovered that Niles' ice had fixed her to the ground. Teddy tried to break the ice by force and then made a weak attempt to melt it with one of her attacks, but she wasn't quick enough as Niles inched closer and closer.

"What good can you do when your magic is only a fraction of the kinda power Cure Cheer had flowing in her?" Niles questioned as he stood before her, the ice continuing to freeze the rest of her body," You're weak and careless and your power can't even compare to Cure Cheer, who inevitably lost to Lilith. If she couldn't defeat her, what the hell makes you think you can?"

Teddy then responded with," Because, I'm not a solo act, I've got-"

"-Don't say comrades." Niles interrupted," I have no desire to hear you speak about the strength in your bonds when none of you come close to Cure Cheer with your strengths combined. You're weak because you've relied on others. You could've been strong but you chose to limit yourself. Cure Cheer had no teammates and she was one of the strongest the kingdom had to offer, so what's your excuse?"

Niles then leaned down, and Teddy had no response for him. He reached for her brooch on her center bow, but then, Teddy firmly placed a hand on Niles shoulder as she said,

"I don't know what to tell you, but clearly Cure Cheer meant a lot to you if you speak so well of her." Teddy said, her gaze not meeting Niles," It's very admirable, but don't you think it's a bit sad too? She was so talented, but without teammates, she had the fate of the kingdom on her shoulders alone. It must've been a heavy burden. But for me and my friends, things _will_ be different."

All of a sudden, Niles' arm was turning to stone.

Teddy smiled and said," Things won't be like last time because I have friends and I trust them more than anyone in the world. Maybe we're not as strong as Cure Cheer but it's not like we can't become stronger, isn't that why we came here anyways?"

She looked at Niles' arm, watching as his arm turned to stone rapidly," Oh yeah, you didn't think I hadn't notice the stones, did you? They kept moving around but they were so heavy it wouldn't have been likely that we were the ones moving them. They're stronger than I expected too, all I can wonder now is what will happen first, I become frozen in ice or you get turned to stone?"

Niles sighed and snapped his fingers, causing the ice to melt around Teddy. Teddy brushed herself off and Niles waited for her to undo her pretend mode.

"Hm...I'm not actually sure if I should undo it just yet. I want something in return." Teddy declared as watched the rest of Niles' body turn to stone," Say you surrender, and tell me more about Cure Cheer."

Niles seemed adamant but drew out a deep breath saying," Fine, I surrender. And I'll tell you whatever you'd like to know."

Dolly was continuing to hear praise from others as if she wasn't present, feeling good about herself and slowly forgetting about the training she was supposed to be doing with Ophelia. The more praise she heard, the more clouded her memory was and all she could focus on was kind of nice things these voices would say next.

As she was waiting though, she heard the faintest voice say," You really are enjoying this aren't you?"

The voice felt unsettling to hear as the tone sounded condescending and they spoke to Dolly like she right in front of her, unlike the other voices. Suddenly, it became a bit harder for Dolly to focus on the other voices and all she tried to listen for was the quiet little voice that had yet to praise her.

"Is this seriously something that makes you feel good? I guess it makes sense, but it sure seems pathetic." The voice said to her," Can't you really not feel good about yourself without the praise of others? Is this all you want?"

Dolly kept quiet and her gaze fell to her lap. She didn't know what to say and now all she could hear the quiet voice growing louder and louder.

"Just how empty do you have to become to be so reliant on what others say about you?" The voice asked," Every little thing you do, from your work as student council, to your part-time job, to cram school, to even your work as a Pretty Cure. You don't put much consideration into other things unless it makes you look good. You only care about your image."

Dolly felt her heart start to race after being on the spot like and only said nervously," But, being a Pretty Cure wouldn't work with my image. Being Cure Dolly is the exact opposite of who I let myself be perceived as, so you can't just say I only care about my image."

Her gaze then fell to the floor as she continued to speak," Sure, I've done a lot of things in the past to build up this image I want to be seen as, but I work hard in everything I do, and I don't work hard just to be commended. I just...it's always been like this."

 _"Remember Kiriko, it's only through hard work and nothing but hard work that you'll be able to be happy."_ A familiar voice rang out in Dolly's mind.

Dolly then felt her head start to hurt a bit just by having those words resurface in her mind. Hard work, just nothing but hard work. That's all she ever did and it cost her a normal high-school life. She felt bitter and confused as the words replayed in her head.

"I did work hard, I always did, and I was told this was all I needed to do to be happy and yet...I've always felt the exact opposite." Dolly said to herself as tears formed in her eyes," Hey, I guess you did make some good points. I guess somewhere along the way I got infatuated with the opinions of others."

Dolly then stood up and the chair from beneath her disappeared.

"Thank you for helping me realize my mistake. I get it now." Dolly said, but just then, the spotlight above her got even brighter.

"Is that so?" The voice then asked her as an army of faceless figures appeared around the edges where the light on the floor hit, surrounding Cure Dolly.

Niles and Teddy were sitting cross-legged in the field. Niles had yet to speak about Cure Cheer and Teddy watched him intently, awaiting his explaination. He was still trying to collect his thoughts, his eyes downcast as he thought about Cheer. It wasn't like this had been the first time in a while that he thought about her, she never once left his mind. Some memories replayed themselves more than others but nonetheless, Niles couldn't remember the last time Cheer hadn't consumed his thoughts. The question was, where to start?  
Niles covered his hands with his mouth and took a deep breath, his gaze still not meeting Teddy when he began his explanation.

"She originally came here to train, just like you guys. However, when she arrived, I was the only Celestian here. The others awoke many years later, so I'm the only one who actually met her. " Niles explained softly as he hugged his knees," She had magic unlike any other, and we trained for a very long time. It could have been days or weeks, I'm not very good with time. But anyways...she always loved a good fight, she was never one to give up easily."

 _"So here are my rules of battle." Niles said in front of Cheer, looking the exact same as he did in the present," If I can take your brooch, thus reversing your transformation, I win. If you can find a way to render me immobile, then you will win. Is that understood?"_

 _"Understood!" Cheer responded with a vigorous nod of her head._

 _The two of them fought many times, often until the both of them were fully exhausted and had no energy left to even move, resulting in a draw most of the time. The two seemed evenly matched but Niles knew he had the upper hand in most battles. After all, this was his land they were battling in, and no one else knew the Sanctuary better than him. At first, Niles believed that Cheer would have quit early and decided that she didn't need to stay here after all their fighting. But Cheer didn't leave and only continued to fight with Niles in hopes of winning against him. She didn't complain once and never failed to give it her all. She may have had very strong magic too but she was clumsy at times and have a tendency to overlook things._

 _The thing about Cheer was that she never once bragged or even mentioned the strength in powers. Niles knew she was of mage descent by the strength in her magic and mages always love to boast about how powerful their magic was but, Cheer didn't seem interested in talking about it. Maybe she didn't know about her ancestry? Not only that, Cheer didn't use her magic very often here, only when it was necessary. It was so strange and unheard of to have someone with such magic use it so sparingly. She was aware that her magic was beyond average but still, she didn't want to use it._

 _One day, Niles and Cheer had been fighting as usual, and Cheer had slipped up, causing Niles to have the upper hand in this battle. He had her on the ground, the two of them surrounded by a mass of white roses and Niles just stared down at her with an empty look in his eye._

 _Niles knew if he took away her brooch, that meant she would've lost and they would have to consider a new Pretty Cure, but Niles didn't want that. He knew Cheer had held back on her magic and it had been bothering him._

 _"What are you waiting for?" Cheer asked as she looked up at him._

 _Niles looked into Cheer's eyes for a moment and all of a sudden, he felt like he was drowning in a turquoise sea. He looked away and slammed his palm into the bed of flowers next to her. Cheer looked confused and all Niles could say was,_

 _"I don't want to do this."_

 _Niles moved away from her and said nothing, his face red and his eyes on the flowers around him. He then noticed some of them were stained red and he wondered how such a thing could have happened in the sanctuary._

 _"Your arm is bleeding!" Cheer cried as she pointed to the blood trickling out from the fresh wound," Let me see it."_

 _Cheer then took a hold of arm quickly and then held her hands over the wound. She shut her eyes and concentrated, a glowing pink and blue aura flowing around her as she did so. The blood was disappearing and the wound had been healed moments later. Cheer let go of Niles' and Niles inspected his repaired arm. He then gave Cheer a weary look and hugged her tightly. Cheer was taken aback, and only smiled warmly as she ran her hands through his hair._

 _"You know I don't understand you one bit." Niles claimed, his voiced sounding pained but he forced a laugh," You have unmistakably strong magic, and yet you choose not to use it. Why?"_

 _"Well, I want to balance myself out, you know?" Cheer answered as she rested her head on his shoulder," My fighting could use some work, and if I was only relying on my magic well...I'd be in real trouble if somehow something went wrong with it, right?"_

 _Niles nodded in understanding, though her reason wasn't what he was expecting._

 _"There's also something I need you to know." Niles said in a nervous tone in her ear. Niles then whispered into her ear in a barely audible voice. Cheer then looked at him in surprise and Niles then shifted his gaze to the ground once more. Cheer smiled, taking a hold of Niles' hand and placing her lips on his._

Memories of him and Cheer started flooding through his mind without end. All those times they fought together, simply sat beside each other or falling asleep next to each other. Cheer was good to him, but serving the kingdom was her main purpose. In the end, her duties as a Pretty Cure took higher priority, which was to be expected, but her demise certainly wasn't.

"She was a bright, amazing girl inside and out. She told me about her favourite hobbies, how she always wanted a little brother or sister because she was an only child and really anything that came to her mind. She was chatty but...she never failed to impress." Niles admitted, a troubled look appearing on his face.

"So...did you ever learn her real name? Her family tree? Address, even?" Teddy pried in a near impatient tone.

Niles stared blankly at the ground for a few moments and then shook his head, saying," We never exchanged any information of that sort. I never learned those things about her."

 _"He can't be serious."_ Teddy thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes at Niles.

Niles kept quiet for a few moments, his mind still stuck on Cure Cheer as he hesitantly said," She made the decision to keep certain details about herself a secret. She never struck me as a private person but she felt as a Pretty Cure, it was her duty to keep her personal affairs to herself. It's not like it would've affected me though, I can't even leave the Sanctuary."

Teddy's eyes widened in surprise and she then she interjected," But you were able to leave the Sanctuary earlier, when you were in that plush toy disguise!"

"That's the only way the Sanctuary will allow us to leave, when we have to meet the Pretty Cure. Otherwise, we must stay here." Niles explained in a somber tone.

"Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that. So...does that mean we're done here?" Teddy asked him as the two of them stood up," Are we good to go home?"

"Not just yet." Niles responded curtly," One more trial awaits your team."

Dolly was in the midst of battle, and had just been slammed into the ground by one of the figures. The figure had their arms on Dolly's shoulders and Dolly then delivered a powerful kick into the figure's core. The figure's grip on Dolly was broken and now Dolly was able to get back on her feet. She took a few short breaths and looked around. The army of figures didn't decrease in their numbers, despite the fact that it felt like they had fought for hours. This fight wasn't getting anywhere, but Dolly had yet to figure out a way to escape. Every time she tried to run deeper into the shadows where the figures came from, the figures would block her way. It was peculiar, so Dolly found herself fixated on trying to get past them now.

"I wasn't planning on using this until my fight with Ophelia, but fine." Dolly said as she took a deep breath, holding her hands out in front of herself," Pretty Cure, wishful cyclone!"

All the figures had been blown up high into the air, much to Dolly's surprise. She had no idea her attack would've been so effective, she would've done it earlier if she had known. She ran at breakneck speed towards the shadows, where the spotlight couldn't reach and all of a sudden, she awoke. But, she didn't feel right. Her chest felt awfully tight, she couldn't breathe very well and her head was pounding. She upright and looked around the field for Ophelia. She didn't stand up just yet, not wanting to risk dropping back down from feeling light-headed and instead called out for Ophelia.

"Ophelia! Is our match still on?" Dolly shouted as she looked around for her.

"Yes, your work here is done." Ophelia declared plainly from behind her. Dolly sprang up to her feet and Ophelia walked closer towards her. She seemed somewhat tired herself, but Dolly had trouble figuring out why. She was tempted to ask her, but Ophelia seemed to be in a rush, despite her condition.

"Now, you're going to find your endowments." Ophelia instructed as she led Dolly to the gate they entered from," After this, your team may return home. But this isn't an easy task, and I can't guarantee you'll leave with the endowments."

"Wait, you're going too fast. What are these endowments? And why is it so hard to acquire them?" Dolly questioned as Ophelia led the way. The two stood before the gate now and Ophelia was debating on whether or not to explain. Finally she sighed and said," It's not just a physical battle you have to deal with, it's...like, a test on how worthy you are to be a Pretty Cure. The ones overseeing these examinations are very selective, they don't give their endowments out to just anyone. So all I can say is put your best foot forward."

Dolly nodded and Ophelia opened the gate for her, waving goodbye to the lead Cure as she took her leave. Once Dolly left the Sanctuary, Ophelia collapsed on the flowerbed right before her, looking just about ready to fall asleep. Ophelia's eyes were growing heavy and she held her right hand out to the sky.

"She didn't look ok when she awoke..." Ophelia said aloud to herself,"...I hope nothing bad happens to her and her team during their final examination."

Dolly was transported to what appeared to be a very plain front yard, decorated with a cute purple mailbox, some bright flowers and a white picket fence. Dolly felt as if she was on Earth, like in the western hemisphere as she walked towards the large pink and purple house a few feet from her. She found Teddy leaning at the doorway with her arms crossed. Teddy waved to her and Dolly walked quicker.

"What is this place?" Dolly asked as she looked at the house before them," Is this where we'll find the endowments?"

"Looks like it, but the door won't open." Teddy stated as she drew out the sigh.

"Won't open?" Dolly repeated in confusion, with Teddy nodding in response," Let me see that door."

Teddy seemed skeptic, but allowed her to try and to both their surprise, Dolly was able to open the door. The two exchanged suspicious looks and took a step into the house.

"Welcome to the Dollhouse, Cure Dolly and Teddy. This is where your final examination will be held." A feminine voice said to them," Your goal is to find the Room of Legends before sundown. If you can do that, we will consider bestowing upon you the endowments. Please be advised you won't be guaranteed them even if you find the Room of Legends. Not even Cure Cheer could get an endowment from us. We wish you the best of luck."

The two Cures stood there, in sheer disbelief of what the voice just said and all of a sudden, they were starting to feel doubtful in their abilities.

"Don't worry, we got this. I'm certain..." Dolly affirmed, but her tone didn't sound very convincing.


	23. Work hard, play hard

They stood backs against each other in the dollhouse, taking a better look at their surroundings. The dollhouse felt eerie being so big yet the only people seemingly vacating it now were Dolly and Teddy. It was decorated quite similarly to Dolly's bedroom with the walls painted pastel and adorned with paintings. The dollhouse reminded the Cures of a literal dollhouse with the bright colours and the amount of space that was in it. Dolly then took a step forward, further inspecting the house.

"You know, after a taking a better look at the place..." Dolly started slowly before clasping her hands together as a look of awe appeared on her face,"...This is a really lovely house! I would've loved to have a dollhouse like this when I was a kid!"

 _"She's really going to fangirl at a time like this?"_ Teddy thought to herself as her eyes narrowed at Dolly _," Well, I guess it's better than her freaking out and over thinking the fact that Cure Cheer wasn't even successful here."_

Teddy then joined Dolly in looking around but only to decide where they should their search for the Room of Legends. There was a stairway leading to the upper level a few feet ahead of them and there was a hallway leading to their right. But, something felt off to Teddy, though she couldn't figure out what it was. The house was uncomfortably hot and it wasn't helping her think straight. But then Dolly took a step towards the stairway and motioned Teddy to follow her. Teddy complied and went up the stairs along with Dolly, still trying to figure out what was missing.

Bubbly and Fantasy were inside a dollhouse almost identical to the one that Dolly and Teddy were in, but instead of pink and purple walls, the dollhouse was painted vibrant hues of blue with some hints of white and lilac. They had just been debriefed on their task and were now trying to figure out how to find the Room of Legends.

"Perhaps we should split up?" Bubbly suggested as Fantasy looked around the house," That way we'd be able to cover more ground and use up less time."

"Maybe but...I don't feel safe splitting up in the house. Something isn't quite right about it." Fantasy stated to her as she continued to look around, parting the leaves between a houseplant that rose up high against the wall," I think they'd want us to separate, heaven knows what could happen in this place."

Bubbly nodded in understanding, feeling a bit guilty for her suggestion and then noticed the long hallway a few steps away. It seemed to have quite a few rooms within it, so there seemed to be a good chance that the Room of Legends was there.

"Wanna go down the hallway?" Bubbly asked as she pointed the hall in front of them. Fantasy nodded in response and Bubbly led the way.

The hallway was pretty wide, and there appeared to be only six rooms inside it. All the doors at the hallways had intricate filigree designs carved into them with writing from a foreign language on a gold plate at the top center. When they arrived at the first door, Bubbly squinted at the plate, as if it would help her understand what was written on the plate. Fantasy looked at it and felt uneasy as she recognized the family name written in English. She felt intrigued but at the same time unwilling to enter the room.

Bubbly tried to open the first door and the Cures entered the room. It looked like it belonged to a little girl with its walls painted cherry blossom pink and all the toys lying around. The bed was engulfed in a rainbow canopy with stars sown on it. There was also a pastel rainbow play mat that resembled a giant jigsaw puzzle made from foam on the ground with shapes that could be removed from each piece of the mat. Fantasy knelt and removed one of the shapes from the play mat, holding it up and wearing a pained smile on her face as a wave of nostalgia came over her. Bubbly knelt down too and did the same.

"These are really cool!" Bubbly remarked as she squeezed the shape she removed.

"My kindergarten class had a mat like this. I've always wanted one of these things..." Fantasy admitted as she gingerly put the shape back.

Fantasy then stood up and walked over to the toys that were all lying near the foot of the bed in front of a wide toy box. Some looked very familiar, others were easy to recognize for Fantasy. The white-haired Cure then picked up a bright yellow and pink toy convertible that had a doll in it and then she picked up a doll with a lavish red, green and white dress on.

"I wanted this toy for my birthday when I was six and this was the special holiday edition doll I lost when we moved homes!" Fantasy said, dropping the toys as she no longer felt comfortable in this room. She was ready to go, but just then, she saw two people stand in the doorway. One of them was her six year-old self, the other was a girl with long hair and bright beige skin. Fantasy felt her heart sink but she also felt frozen in place as she watched the two of them walk into the room, completely unaware that she and Bubbly were here.

"Today we're going to play dress up and I can show you my new colouring book!" The younger Mari exclaimed as she led the older girl to the toy box. The older girl smiled as she followed the younger Mari, kneeling with her in front of the toy box while younger Mari fished for her colouring book and dress-up clothes.

"Fantasy, that's you right?" Bubbly asked as she watched the two girls, her focus now on the older girl," But...who's the older one?"

"My imaginary friend from when I was a child, her name was Mimi." Fantasy answered, her gaze solely on the older girl," I'm an only child and I wanted a sister really bad so...I made one up. Mimi was supposed to be kind, graceful and elegant and..."

"You know, she looks a lot like Cure Cheer." Bubbly remarked, not realizing she hit a sore spot for Fantasy.

"Yeah, that was the point..." Fantasy said as she took a step closer to the two girl and watched them play with younger Mari's dolls," I thought it would be cool to just pretend to have someone like her as my sister."

Dolly and Teddy just finished looking through upstairs and the Room of Legends was nowhere to be found there. It wasn't much of a surprise to either of them, they didn't expect to find it that easily anyways. Teddy took the lead and they headed back to the main level and continued their search there. Dolly was much quieter than usual as she looked for the Room of Legends. No suggestions, no opinions from her but unlike that time in the maze, it didn't seem as if she was holding back on information. If anything, she just didn't look well.

Teddy then stopped searching for a moment and walked up to her teammate who was looking through a stack of books on the nearby bookshelf. Teddy stared at Dolly blankly and Dolly wasn't sure of what to say. Teddy then placed her hand on Dolly's forehead, causing Dolly to impulsively draw back.

"What are you doing?" She questioned in agitation as she held a book in front of herself as a form of protection.

"Your temperature's ok, but...you still seem don't look so good." Teddy stated as she took a hold of Dolly's hand and had her sit on the couch," Just stay here for a bit and I'll keep searching."

Dolly objected with," I can't let you do that! Something bad might happen if we part ways and-"

Dolly then had to hold her head as it started to pain her again. She tried taking deep breaths and it helped a bit, but she was clearly in no condition to keep searching with Teddy. Teddy then shook her head and said to her," Stay put."

Staying put was undoubtedly the last thing Dolly wanted to do right now. It made no sense to her to just allow Teddy to do all the work when they were in this together, but the pounding in Dolly's head made her think otherwise and so reluctantly, she lied down on the couch while Teddy surveyed the main floor. Dolly watched Teddy tried and look for the room on the main floor, feeling useless as her head continued to pound. She tried the deep breathing thing again, and felt calmer now as she rested her head against a throw cushion on the chair. She shut her eyes for a few moments and then, for just a second, the headache fully disappeared and Dolly felt at peace.

Teddy walked down the hallway and opened up a door with bronze plaque that had something written on it in a language she couldn't understand. She went inside and got hit really bad with a wave of nostalgia as she looked at the room. She didn't like looking at the room, she wanted to leave right this instant, but she couldn't at the same time, not after seeing a little girl with red hair playing with racecars alongside two young boys very familiar to her.

"No, I don't wanna see this. Please, anything else, I can't...I shouldn't be watching this..." Teddy said in a panicked voice as she tried opening up the door, first with a gentle tug that quickly turned into a violent shake as she tried to open the door. Teddy stopped trying to open the door for a moment and watched the three kids playing in the bedroom. She fell quiet and slumped down against the door, keeping her gaze on the kids. She shook her head and hugged her knees, burrowing her head into her lap.

"This was so long ago and yet, it never felt like so much time had passed." Teddy said to herself as a sigh escaped her lips," Why couldn't things stay this way?"

Dolly had fallen asleep and was dreaming away while Teddy was trapped in the room. In Dolly's dream, she was inside the dollhouse like she was now, only everything was a dark colour and it felt a lot less welcoming here. Dolly was by herself and she was calling out Teddy's name as she ambled through the hallways.

"Teddy? Teddy?" Dolly shouted as she looked through the hallways, shaking her head as she walked on," I knew I should've went with her."

Dolly stood still for a moment, feeling as if someone had been behind her, watching her intently. But she was too scared to turn around and find who was awaiting her. Certainly it wasn't Teddy, and the longer she stood still, the more anxious she grew.

"Kiriko, you can't lie to us!" A voice behind her said, with a mass of voices chanting "You can't lie to us!" following afterwards.

Dolly held her head again and felt her heart start to race as she nervously asked," What are you talking about?"

The voices didn't listen and only got louder, leaving Dolly feeling frozen in place. Her breathing quickened, her head was hurting much more than before and all she could think about what trying to determine what the voices were talking about. Suddenly, a much louder scream cut through the chanting and Dolly abruptly woke up.

Dolly jolted up and looked around for Teddy on the main floor from her seat. The Cure clad in brown was nowhere to be seen so Dolly jumped off from the chair and ran into the hallway.

"Teddy? Teddy?!" Dolly was just about to run past the hallway on the main floor, but then she noticed one of the doors were slightly opened. She ran towards the door and entered the room, finding Teddy in the grip of a translucent white humanoid figure. All they had was a smile on their face as they held Teddy by her neck. Teddy was a few feet off of the ground and had both her hands on the hand that the figure was holding her by. Neither of them had noticed Dolly entering the room.

"Go on, admit it. You're just a selfish, spoiled rotten brat. And this is the proof." The figure said to her as they gripped her tighter," You can't be bothered by other's feelings, you only care about yourself. And that's exactly how you drove these two away."

Dolly glanced over and saw a pair of little boys playing with toy cars. She took a closer look and immediately recognized the two of them. Dolly then ran towards Teddy and the figure, trying to put herself in between them, with no avail and just stood adjacent to them.

"You let her go right now!" Dolly demanded as she threw a punch into the side of the figure. The figure let go for a moment, giving Teddy a chance to escape his clutch. Teddy was dropped on the ground and Dolly helped her up.

"Are you alright?" Dolly asked while Teddy brushed herself off, nodding in response," Come on, let's go!"

Teddy nodded and took off much quicker than Dolly had expected, pushing past her teammate without any second thoughts and tugging at the doorknob moments later. Dolly looked at her in surprise, wondering exactly what happened in here before she arrived.

"Try all you want, but you're not leaving this room that easily." The figure declared as they waved a hand in front of the two boys, causing them to disappear," Best case scenario, only one Pretty Cure gets to leave. The other isn't worthy of the title anyways."

Teddy stopped pulling at the doorknob for a moment, and sunk to her knees. Her back was to the other two in the room and she kept quiet.

"She's not going to put up a fight this time, because she knows I'm right." The figure declared as they walked over to Teddy. The figure surprisingly seemed a lot more gentle now and wasn't putting up as much of a fight. The figure brushed past Dolly and knelt beside Teddy, placing their hand on her shoulder.

"You don't care about anybody and you only do things that make you feel happy. You never thought twice about how your actions affected others, and you probably never will." The figure stated in an awfully calm voice," You will continue to act on your own accord and hurt everyone around you. Nobody would even think to stay with you at the rate you're going, especially not-"

"-Just shut up!" Teddy shouted as she clasped her hands over her ears, her whole body shaking. The figure then stood up and turned to face Dolly.

"You of all people should be aware that this girl isn't fit to be a Pretty Cure. With no control of magic after all this time, and feeling no need to care about the consequences in how she treats others, she should just defect from your team."

 _"What's going on? She isn't usually like this..."_ Dolly thought to herself as she looked at Teddy," I'll have you know that I would never want Cure Teddy to leave our team!"

"You only say that because you're the leader, not to mention she's standing right there!" The figure pointed out with a laugh following afterwards," Your righteous leader façade won't work on me. If I were to make her leave the room somehow, I'm certain that you would speak differently about her."

The figure then waved their hand over Teddy and she disappeared. But, Teddy was still present in the room, she just couldn't be seen or heard by Dolly. Teddy was enclosed in a glassy transparent box, fully able to hear the figure and Dolly speaking to each other. Teddy couldn't break open the box though, it didn't seem to be made from glass but rather something like rubber.

The figure then took a seat in front of the invisible box that held Teddy and said," Well, now that's she gone, are you still willing to speak so positively about her? Or has your teamwork been built on lies?"

Dolly took a deep breath and said slowly," Cure Teddy is loud, she's got weird taste in music and she can be unfriendly. Her magic does what it wants and she uses it recklessly, heedless of any damage it will bring to others or herself. Perhaps she really is unfit to be a Pretty Cure..."

Teddy sighed and felt betrayed by Dolly's words, but it wasn't like she was wrong. The figure smiled and leaned back, pleased by how willing Dolly was to be honest.

Just then, the figure was hit with a blade from wind so strong, it tore open it's chest and left a gaping hole across it. Dolly flicked her wrist and glared towards the figure, taking a step forward.

"...to you guys, at least."

Dolly then took another step towards the figure and said," But, on my team, I don't need any of that stuff! Teddy might not be the ideal Pretty Cure in both personality and magic, but she always fights for what she believes in and that reason alone should be more than enough for her to be a Pretty Cure!"

The figure then stood up and said in frustration," You can't honestly believe all of-!"

"Of course I do. However, if there's one thing I don't believe, it's that Teddy is outside of the room." Dolly claimed as she crossed her arms," Perhaps she's in some...invisible box?"

"Impossible!" The figure shouted vehemently," How did you know about that?!"

"Are you kidding me? You leaned against it. If there wasn't some kind of support behind you that pose would've been uncomfortable to keep doing for so long." Dolly pointed out flatly as she narrowed her eyes to them," You have no one to blame but yourself for that one. Plus, I can still sense her presence."

The figure snapped it's fingers and Teddy was visible again as the box was gone. Teddy quickly ran over to Dolly's side and the figure only shook it's head as they surveyed the two Cures before them.

"Courage, faith, and friendship. These things are vital to a Pretty Cure, and while you've proved your resolve to be strong, don't believe that you've succeeded in your quest, it will only get harder from here. I mean that in both your search for the Room of Legends and in your fight against Asperity."

The figure then disappeared and the door swung open. Teddy fought the urge to dash straight out of the room and instead walked alongside Dolly, even though the blonde Cure could tell that she was still feeling tense from her battle. Teddy did walk a bit quicker though. Dolly kept an eye on her fellow Cure, feeling guilty and still confused from the incident. Teddy appeared desolate and hopeless in front of that figure, who seemed to know something that Dolly didn't. She considered asking Teddy about it, but no, it was too soon and would've probably shut her down, saying it's not of her business. But, what if that were to happen again and Teddy wouldn't be able to block out those vicious words? Dolly took a deep breath, now sure of what she should do.

"Um, Teddy?" Dolly began awkwardly," About that...event..."

Teddy closed her eyes and only said," The figure was talking about my biggest regret. It cost me something very special, and I'm not sure if I can ever restore things to the way they used to be."

"Oh, I see..."Dolly responded, feeling a bit at ease since Teddy wasn't as unresponsive as she expected," Well, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out! If it's something so important to you that you feel losing it is your biggest regret, then I'm sure there's a way to fix things."

Teddy was quiet, and only offered her partner a rigid nod in response.

Meanwhile, Bubbly and Fantasy were met with some trouble in the room where they saw the younger Mari and Mimi. Fantasy had now taken the younger Mari's spot and could no longer pay any attention to Bubbly. Bubbly was growing anxious as all her attempts to snap Fantasy out of it didn't work. Many attempts had happened, from Bubbly standing between the two of them, to trying to pull Fantasy away from Mimi. Nothing worked though and it was driving Bubbly crazy to just stand around, feeling useless as she watched Fantasy get absorbed in this distorted reality.

"Isn't this ironic?" A voice said to Bubbly," She used a trick similar to this with that Celestian woman, and now that very trick is getting used on her! Not to mention, it's very evident how much she idolized Cure Cheer. Don't you find it odd, even disturbing to see your friend infatuated with this woman whom she could never reach? She's no Pretty Cure, more like a "

Bubbly gnashed her teeth and didn't know what to say. She didn't think it strange for Fantasy to feel this way towards Cheer, if anything, it didn't come as a surprise to her. But Bubbly knew that it wasn't going to be right allowing her friend to fall victim to this illusion and leave her behind. But she just couldn't figure out how to get through to Fantasy, who looked so happy in the presence of this fake Cheer. Bubbly then thought of something, something that hadn't crossed her mind until now.

Bubbly marched over to the two girls and stood in front of them, but neither of them paid her any attention. Though Bubbly could've sworn she saw Mimi smirk. Bubbly then held out her hand and blasted out a tendril of water towards Mimi, sending her flying a few feet backwards. Fantasy double-blinked, feeling disoriented as she finally met Bubbly's gaze.

Bubbly said loudly, "Fantasy, you have been subjected to a world of lies and make-believe. None of this is real and while that might upset you, it's better you know that instead of fall deeper into this delusion!"

Fantasy said nothing as she stared at Bubbly blankly for a few moments before returning her gaze to Mimi, who was drenched in water and wore an irate look on her face. Fantasy returned to her senses, but instead of feeling grateful to Bubbly for helping her out, she felt guilt.

She was sure that her idolization, her obsession with Cheer had come to an end, but as soon as she saw her imaginary friend, created by her as a child, she just couldn't help herself. She knew deep down, she wanted to be just like Cure Cheer, but she already told herself that could never happen. Not while she was a half-earthling trying to catch up to one of the strongest Mages in the kingdom.

"I can't be as strong as Cheer and I rely on my magic too much, only because it's my only link to her. I keep comparing myself to her, but I even I know I just won't get there." Fantasy said in a somber voice," I really don't deserve to be a Pretty Cure if all I want to do is be like Cure Cheer. I...I'm not ready for all the hardships that come with being a Pretty Cure."

Fantasy felt tears welling up in her eyes and a faceless figure materialized and stood next to her, saying," Wow, she took the words right out of my mouth. She's right though, being a Pretty Cure is full of challenges and struggles, and if you can't handle these kinds of problems, is there any use trying?"

The figure then glanced towards Bubbly and said to her," You've got the choice to leave this so-called Pretty Cure and complete y our search for the Room of Legends, or the two of you can spend the rest of your time here in this room, living out your wildest dreams, I know even you have some unfulfilled wishes."

"Hm well, I think I'll choose..." Bubbly began thoughtfully, " Neither of those options! We're busting out of here whether you like it or not!"

The figure scoffed and then said," Why would you want to leave with this excuse for a Pretty Cure? She even said herself that she doesn't want to face any hardships that come with being a Pretty Cure! Is this the kind of teammate you want?"

Bubbly looked frustrated as she collected her thoughts, saying," Fantasy may be afraid of the challenges that come with being a Pretty Cure, but I know she can do it! Fantasy is stronger than she thinks and why should it be a bad thing that she doesn't want to deal with the hardships that come with this job? None of us want to do that! But, we're a team, and we know no one can do this and that why we'll be able to overcome anything, because we'll be there for each other!"

"Mari!" Bubbly shouted as she turned around to face her teammate," I'll be there for you, no matter what!"

The figure then darted towards Bubbly and tried to attack her, but Bubbly was quicker and dodged, holding her hands out to perform another attack.

"Pretty Cure, whirlpool of justice!" Bubbly shouted, sending the figure flying a few meters back as she shot another tendril of water. Bubbly looked impressed with herself, staring down at her hands as she heaved in her breaths. Then all of a sudden, she was grabbed from behind by Fantasy's imaginary friend. Mimi wrapped her arm around Bubbly's neck and tried reaching for her brooch to undo her transformation.

Fantasy watched the scene with apprehensive eyes, she knew she had to do something and that this was no time to feel sorry for herself, to feel like a sad excuse for a Pretty Cure. As those words ran through her mind again, she somehow didn't feel complacent or defeated this time. All she could feel was anger and the need to prove those words weren't true.

As Mimi tried to pluck Bubbly's brooch from her bow, she saw her hands started to melt at a rapid rate. She thought she was just imagining things, but she started feeling awfully warm. Her breathing quickened and then looked at her other hand around Bubbly and saw that it was melting too. She immediately removed herself from Bubbly and watched as her hands started to melt into a puddle at her feet. She was in complete disbelief of what she saw but she was helpless against the melting and only dropped to her knees as the rest of her body started to melt on her.

Bubbly then rushed over to Fantasy, and the two of them looked at her curiously. Bubbly had no clue what was going on since from their perspective, Mimi was perfectly fine. But Fantasy knew what happened to her and couldn't belief how strong her powers had been.

"Is she going to be ok?" Bubbly whispered to her.

"I...I hope so." Fantasy answered, feeling a bit guilt as she watched her imaginary friend in anguish at the sight of herself melting _," If Bubbly wasn't involved in that, if it had been_ me _that she was attacking, would that illusion have been so...relentless?_

"What an interesting partnership you two have, it's quite entertaining to watch, in a good way." The figure said as they made Mimi disappear," You girls are strong, but together, that's definitely when you're the strongest. That's how it should be. Of course, the fight doesn't end here, but you can't get discouraged. A Pretty Cure isn't just someone with strong magic or physical strength, she is not defined by her power but her will to keep fighting. Please, do everything you can, to keep fighting."

The figure then disappeared, and the door to the room opened again. The two of them exited to continue their search.

Things had gotten awfully quiet between Dolly and Teddy and not just because of the incident that happened earlier. Dolly's headache kept coming at the worst times possible, but it would vanish in mere matter of minutes. It was frustrating, and she did everything in her power to not make her headache bother her. She didn't want Teddy noticing and making her sit out of the search again, so she pretended the headaches weren't there. But, even if Dolly was successful in hiding her aches, Teddy still had a feeling that something wasn't quite right with Dolly.

Dolly sighed, taking a seat at the kitchen table as she stated," We've looked everywhere but still no sign of the Room of Legends. Is there something we're missing?"

"Maybe we aren't checking the right places..." Teddy suggested as she started to walk around the kitchen," We may've gone through every room in the house, but can we really say we've looked everywhere?"

Teddy then opened up a jar on the counter, only finding sugar inside of it. Teddy shook her head and started opening up the rest of the jars, and then the cupboards.

"This is a magic dollhouse, so it'd only make sense that the Room of Legends would be somewhere we as Earthlings wouldn't expect, don't you think?" Teddy pointed out as she opened up the bottom cupboards.

"That is true...everytime I feel like we're getting the hang of this, it's stuff like this that prove me wrong." Dolly said as she tried inspecting a salt shaker on the table," Do you think Cheer had any problems in doing this? She is from the kingdom, so she'd probably expect something weird like the door to the Room of Legends being something unexpected like a freezer."

Teddy then checked the freezer just to make sure, but still no luck.

"This whole thing is weird if you think about it." Teddy stated as she started to inspect the inside of the fridge and all it's contents," No one of us knew each other before we started this whole Pretty Cure thing, and now we're expected to save a magical world we've never known to exist. All because we had powers we never even knew about."

"Yeah, I guess when you put it that way, I would've never thought to be fighting alongside you Cure Teddy." Dolly stated casually," But, I'm glad it happened!"

Teddy was about to respond but then she noticed something odd about one of the drawers in the fridge. Nothing was inside of it but it was pitch black. She then cautiously placed her hand inside of it and instead of touching the bottom of the drawer, it felt as if her hand was dangling around in some other place. She pulled her arm out and let her fingers stay inside, just in case the opening tried to disappear on her.

"I think I found something." Teddy called out. Dolly followed after her and knelt next to her, seeing her teammate's hand inside of the pitch black drawer. Dolly took a closer look and was unsure of what to do. She stared into the drawer, hoping she would see something, anything from her spot but she couldn't and gingerly dipped her finger into the drawer.

"This is probably the closest we'll get to the Room of Legends, but how are we supposed to enter through this drawer? It's not exactly roomy enough for us to fit through it." Dolly said as she and Teddy looked at the drawer skeptically.

"I don't know, we might have some luck going through it, if anything it'd be a tight squeeze." Teddy pointed out as she stood up," I'll give it a shot."

Dolly nodded and took a step back from the drawer for Teddy to try entering through. Dolly looked a bit doubtful as she studied her teammate placing her foot inside the drawer. Dolly then quickly glanced at Teddy and saw her hesitant reaction. Somehow, Dolly was almost certain that something about the drawer threw Teddy off-guard.

Dolly then said abruptly,"You know, you don't need to-"

"It's fine! It's our only hope as of right now." Teddy reminded her as she finally lifted her other foot off the ground and place it into the drawer. As soon as both of Teddy's feet were in the drawer, it sucked her up in an instant, not even giving Dolly enough time to process what just happened.

"Teddy?!" Dolly shouted as she scrambled to the drawer and followed after her. The drawer did the same to her and sucked her up seconds later. The two of the were now falling through into another room that was terribly lit with only a few candles spread around as a source of light. The girls fell on the floor and looked around this place where the drawer delivered them to. This place didn't look like it was a part of the dollhouse with it's dark walls and empty halls. It felt more like the inside of a cave rather than a part of the dollhouse.

"Are we really on right track?" Dolly asked nervously as the two of them began to walk.

The two of them walked a bit more and found a door on their path with writing that they weren't able to read. The door looked rather ornate with its gold door knob and detailing on the door's edge. It didn't look a lot like the doors found it the dollhouse and that made the Cures hopeful.

"That sign better read Room of Legends!" Teddy exclaimed as she and Dolly tried open the door together.

The Cures opened the door and found a room that was bright with ivory walls and many large photos hung on the walls with a little gold plaque with a name under each of them. There were many girls pictured, each in a side profile with their eyes closed. They all wore very bright dresses and something told the two of them that all the girls pictured were Pretty Cures.

"Songstress, Essence, History, Joy..." Dolly read out as she passed each respective Cures names," Were these girls all solo acts? Or, maybe they were simply the strongest of their team..."

Teddy said nothing and then stopped as she saw a familiar girl in the photo above her," Cure Cheer..."

Dolly joined her in looking at the photo of Cheer, but something wasn't adding up," I thought Cheer didn't get an endowment? If that was the case, then why would her photo be here?"

Teddy leaned down to inspect her plaque and noticed that her was made from silver rather than gold.

"Maybe she was an obligatory addition." Teddy suggested as they kept on walking. At the end of the hall was a another door, but it was opened and inside it was a room that looked like the outside of the Room of Legends.

"I mean, all we had to do was find the Room of Legends, right?" Teddy reminded her as Dolly continued to stare at the doorway.

Dolly took a quick look around the room, feeling inadequate as she looked the photos of all the Pretty Cures. She didn't feel as if their task was complete, something was missing, and every instinct within her said to go through that door. Dolly then took a hold of Teddy's hand and led her to the open door. The two of them stood in the doorway and looked around the seemingly empty room. Dolly studied the room that resembled a secret chamber with its brick walls and blue flames alight in the room, but it didn't seem like there was much to be found in here.

Just then, her head started to hurt again and she immediately clasped on to the edge of the doorway, still attempting to keep her aches a secret from Teddy.

"Congratulations on finding the Room of Legends, Cure Dolly and Teddy." A voice said to them from inside the room. The Cures then cautiously took a step into the room and instantly a slender figure with bright, luminescent skin appeared before them. Their hair was pure white and long, cascading to their knees and their eyes were pale gold.

"You are now able to receive your endowments." The figure said to them, before a slice of wind struck Dolly and had her fall to her feet," However, one of you still need to prove your value as a Pretty Cure."

Bubbly and Fantasy had just landed in a passage identical to the one that Dolly and Teddy used to enter the Room of Legends. Neither of them landed on their feet and took in their surroundings before standing up again. Bubbly inspected the passage, a gleeful look arising to her face, while she shook Fantasy and said,

"I think we're here!"

Fantasy nodded in response and the two of them walked towards a door on the far end of the passage. After opening the door, the Cures discovered a room filled with photos of previous Pretty Cure. The Cures marveled at the sight of these Cures from generations past, there were so many of them that they almost couldn't believe their eyes at all the photos. Then the two stumbled upon an altar with three photos of people who didn't appear to be Pretty Cure. Depicted in the three photos was a woman and two men. Under each photo, a title was written with the respective name written underneath. One man was titled The King, the other was The Mage and the woman was The Priestess.

"Not all the legendary are Pretty Cure, but all Pretty Cure are amongst the legendary." Fantasy read aloud from a scripture placed underneath the three photos. Bubbly narrowed her eyes at the names, trying to figure out how to say them but with no avail. They appeared to be written in some foreign language, but the text looked like nothing Bubbly had ever seen. She gave up on trying to read their names and then noticed Fantasy staring at a door on the opposite end of the room.

"Do you wanna see what's in there?" Bubbly questioned. Bubbly then started walking towards the door, completely heedless of what might happen while Fantasy followed after her cautiously. Fantasy continued to look around the room, she was sure they had reached the room of Legends so what business would they have in this next room? Once they reached the room, Bubbly stuck her head out the doorway and looked both ways. Nobody seemed to be around, much to her disappointment.

"Hello? Anybody home~?" Bubbly called out as she took one more look around before entering the room. Bubbly stood in the room, a chill crawling down her spine as she looked around. From here she noticed the room had been lit with blue flames and the walls had vines cascading down them.

Fantasy then followed after her and as soon as she entered the room, a genderless figure that glowed a bright light stood before the two of them.

"Welcome Cure Bubbly and Cure Fantasy, You've done well in finding the Room of Legends." The figure said to them," Your hard work thus far has proven you to be diligent, determined and, dependable. We couldn't thank you more for everything you've done, you're now able to receive your endowments. Unfortunately..."

The figure then grabbed a hold of Bubbly by the scruff of her shirt and looked her dead in the eyes, saying," One of you still have yet to prove yourself worthy as a Pretty Cure."

Dolly was tossed into the far wall and the figure then held a pair of white and blue flames in their hands. Dolly struggled to get back to her feet but she didn't lose her cool as she held her hands up in front of herself and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Wishful Cyclone!"

Her violet whirlwinds flew towards the figure, but with a wave of their hand, they immediately dissipated the attack, leaving Dolly in shock with her eyes wide fearfully. She persevered and then decided to simply run towards her opponent as her hands glowed a violet aura. The figure swung for her but she ducked immediately and ran behind the figure and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Gale of Wishes!"

The figure was hit from behind but her attack didn't do much and the figure recovered quickly. The figure then extended they're leg out and spun around, knocking Dolly onto her feet. The figure then glared at Dolly and shook their head slowly.

"Unwilling, detached, inconsiderate. If you think about it, these are all perfect words to describe you when leading your team." The figure explained as they knelt before Dolly," You won't learn your lesson, you likely never will. You don't fit the role of leader with your attitude, not to mention...you don't trust your teammates, do you?"

Dolly opened her mouth and then closed it promptly, taking a deep breath while saying," That's not true! I do-!"

"-There's no use in lying." The figure pointed out to her in an agitated voice before turning their attention to Cure Teddy," Do you think Dolly trusts you and your teammates?"

Teddy, who had just gotten used to being ignored by the two of them, wasn't very sure of what to say while the two of them watched her expectantly.

Bubbly was dropped on the ground by the figure and so she scurried to her feet, holding her arms in front of her body as she tried to think of what to do. If this was Porter she was fighting against, she would've likely been chided for rushing straight into battle and not thinking things through, so she did just the opposite and tried to stay calm as she thought.

 _"Remember, this isn't only to show my strengths, but to prove my worth! There's a lot at stake here, so I can't afford to mess this up!"_ Bubbly thought to herself as she ran towards the figure hands charged with a pair of water spheres.

The figure then tried to punch her but Bubbly evaded the attack and shot her spheres made from water at the two white flames at the corner of the room. The two flames dimmed out and the entire room was dark, save for the spot the figure vacated due to the light they emitted. The figure spun around, trying to look for the Pretty Cure and was suddenly hit with a kick to the side, falling to their feet moments after.

The figure then looked up and saw Fantasy and Bubbly, the former holding a light she just materialized. The figure hung it's head, chuckling to itself softly.

"Ok, I'll give it to you, you've gotten smarter, but will that ever be enough?" The figure said as they stood up," Most likely not, just like you."

Bubbly had a certain thought cross her mind, she wasn't sure if the figure meant to strike a nerve like that and simply put on an artificial gallant smile as she said," You're only saying that because we beat you!"

"Right, you beat me, but someone else will beat you, despite all your efforts. That's just the cycle we live in. But you of course already know this, so perhaps I should just spare you the details?" The figure said before giving their attention to Fantasy," Pretty Cure isn't for the faint of heart, just because you think you can do something, doesn't always make it true. And sometimes, knowing that makes people quit."

Cure Fantasy seemed irritated by the fact that figure was clearly upsetting Bubbly so patiently she said,"You've never worked with Bubbly so you can't be so sure of what she can or can't do as a Pretty Cure!"

The figure then looked over to Bubbly, who was wearing a somewhat guilty look on her face to their pleasure. The figure then took a few steps closer to Bubbly, until they stood right behind her and placed their hands on her shoulders and leaned next to her to whisper in her ear.

"Life is hard isn't it? And truly there isn't a feeling worse than working your hardest and yet, your best isn't good enough. It's that exact feeling that keeps you up at night, it makes you feel unneeded, fixed in a position where you can't grow and you're forced to watch everyone else get ahead of you. If you can't grow, if your best won't cut it, what's the point in staying?" The figure asked her quietly.

Fantasy heard the figure, but things hadn't been adding up until it finally came to her," _They're talking about her modeling!"_

"If she's ready to quit something she dreamed of for her entire life so easily, what makes you think she won't betray your team and quit?" The figure asked Fantasy while firmly squeezing Bubbly's shoulders. Bubbly looked ashamed and adverted Fantasy's gaze. Fantasy was glaring at the figure, she wanted to fight against them, to have them feel regret in their words and wished they never crossed them. But, Fantasy had a feeling she shouldn't try to fight with aggression, at least not right now.

"She probably pities you." The figure said to Bubbly as they looked in Fantasy's direction," And honestly, I don't blame her."

Fantasy took a deep breath in an attempt to release all that frustration and keep calm, putting a smile on her face as she slowly walked towards the figure and Bubbly. The figure only smiled back to her, but their smile felt a bit more apprehensive in comparison to Fantasy as they watched her walk towards them. The figure then walked up and stood in front of Bubbly, waving a hand in her direction.

"All Pretty Cure are relentless and determined in nature. Nothing stops them from achieving their goals. Adversary means nothing to them, so tell me, do you honestly believe Cure Bubbly deserves to be a member of your team?" The figure asked while Bubbly nervously hugged herself," She's immature, irrational and worst of all, she has weak resolve. If you aren't careful, she'll desert your team before you know it. She'll want to quit while you're ahead."

"No I wouldn't! I'm not unreliable like that." Bubbly claimed in her defense, though the figure didn't seem interested in what she had to say. She didn't even sound all that confident in herself, and it looked like her doubts were thriving. The figure then took a quick glance at Fantasy from the corner of their eye and saw her continuing to walk towards them. When she got close enough, she firmly pushed away from the figure and motioned Bubbly to take a seat with her, no longer paying the figure any attention.

"I may not have ever done any sort of modeling, but I can understand the feeling of working hard with nothing to show for it. There's many things I've done in life that I almost wish I didn't put as much effort into as I did, But, we all see that you've been working hard, you might not have gotten where you want to be yet, but I'm sure your work wasn't for nothing. I'm sure there are little girls out there who see your face and wish to be like you, so please...please know there are people who admire and love you."

Bubbly nodded as a small smile appeared on her face and then Fantasy stood up quickly to face the figure, her hands beginning to glow a bright rainbow light.

"Having said that, I don't want to hear anybody trying to bring down my teammate. Are we clear?" Fantasy said as she directed her hands to the figure.

"Well done, you've managed to prove yourself as a Pretty Cure. You two are now able to receive your endowments. " The figure said as they gave a single clap," Congratulations, Cure Fantasy."

Teddy then drew out a fairly long and exaggerated sigh, saying," If you honestly think my teammates and I believe that Dolly doesn't trust us, you're wrong. It's not that she doesn't trust us, she's doesn't trust us enough."

The figure held back on a laugh while Dolly stared at her with her mouth agape.

"What? It's not like it's her fault. I don't know all the details, but I'm sure she's had it rough. She's not being inconsiderate, she's being careful. Maybe too careful, but anyways, even if she doesn't trust us as much as she should know we're not going to leave. " Teddy explained as she walked closer to Dolly," You tend to take matters into your own hands, but you should remember that we're a team of four, not one. We'll do anything to help out, ok?"

Dolly nodded in response, feeling a little better while Teddy turned her attention to the figure, wearing an unimpressed look on her face.

"And as for you, you need to get rid of the mindset that just because someone isn't good enough now doesn't mean they'll ever be. Sometimes, it might be true that people won't be able to learn from their mistakes, but that's not how it is with our team. We might not enjoy change or critique or not feeling good enough, but it's not something out of our control. We might not be the best Pretty Cure team, but who's to say we never we'll be? I think we're stronger than we expected and there's hope for us. I know there is." Teddy declared, looking over to Dolly and giving her a thumbs-up before returning her attention to the figure," Dolly's smart, I don't know how the hell our team would even work without her."

"So that's your response." The figure said, not in a inquisitive sense but rather neutral as if it was just a plain comment," Well, it seems you truly are deserving of an endowment, Cure Teddy."

"Wait, come again?" Teddy asked," I thought it was Dolly who needed to prove her worth."

"Did I ever say that?" The figure questioned, leading Teddy to try and think back to the conversation they had earlier. The figure smiled and then a pair of scepters, one lilac and one gold, appeared in their hands.

"You two have done well. Being a Pretty Cure is more than others think. There's one crucial thing to every Pretty Cure that without it, a team couldn't hope to succeed. That crucial thing is faith in one another. To always have your teammates back, no matter what." The figure said as they handed the girls the scepters," I wish you luck in the rest of your journey."


	24. Teddy bear troubles

Ophelia was gathering flowers in the sanctuary, planning to string them together to make a flower crown of sorts, but she felt disoriented when she picked the flowers. Actually, she had been feeling bit off and unlike herself ever since the Pretty Cure came. When the girls had arrived, Ophelia offered to fight against Cure Teddy but for some reason, Niles picked her over the team's leader and the thought of it didn't stop bothering her. Well, it wasn't just the fact that he chose Teddy over Dolly, it was the firm, unwavering tone he used when he said it. Along with the smallest, brash, smile arising to his face, an expression that Niles almost never made, to the point that Ophelia thought he became physically incapable of it. Ophelia continuously wondered what was it about Teddy that made Niles do that. She knew there was only one reason, but she didn't want to accept it. Ophelia hung her head and gripped the collection of flowers in her hands.

 _"She fights like Cure Cheer."_ Ophelia thought to herself _," Niles would do anything to be with her, even if it's just fighting a girl who reminds him of her."_

Ophelia then dropped the flowers in her hands and looked towards the vast field in the sanctuary.

 _"I remember staring at you for long periods of time, taking great care to memorize every single detail so that if we were to ever separate, I could still envision you next to me._

 _I wanted to remember it all, your pale skin like delicate porcelain, cold to the touch yet so pleasing to the eye, your light blue hair, slightly wavy and always styled to cover your left eye completely, and the indifferent look in your grey-blue eyes. It was unchanging and any other emotion was absent from it. Not once had I ever seen you grieve, express relief or joy. That is, when you weren't speaking about her."_

" _Niles, let's get married." I remember saying to you when I was younger. I was completely under your spell, entranced by your being and yet, you never seemed pleased with anything I did._

" _There are more important things to do." You'd respond with, voice fully toneless as you reached for an apple on the largest tree in the sanctuary. You gave it to me and I just clutched it tightly before saying,_

" _I love you Niles."_

 _You kneeled down to look me in the eyes but I could never tell what you were feeling when that I different stare went missing. You ran a hand that felt out of place through my hair and simply said in a quiet voice,_

" _I...I love you too."_

 _A lie._

 _"Whenever you spoke of Cheer, your face lit up, it was as if you were a completely different person. You would speak of her from time to time and there had been moments where I could tell you had been thinking about her just from the look on your face._

 _You never said those words regarding her either, but I knew. I knew she was the one you were in love with."_

Ophelia then picked up one flower, an orange geranium, and cupped it in her hands.

"Surely he wouldn't be so mad to start falling for that girl, heaven knows she has her own life on earth." Ophelia mused to herself as she crushed the flower in her hands," Even if the Toychest Pretty Cure are strong, this mission will never be as important to them as it was to Cure Cheer."

Asuna sneezed a loud sneeze on the bus and didn't even cover her nose when doing so, much to Reo and Yutaro's chagrin. Asuna thought nothing of it until her gaze met the boys. She raised her eyebrows in suspicion and the boys wore matching unimpressed looks on their faces.

"Catching a cold?" Reo asked her.

"No," Asuna answered indifferently while she searched for a tissue in her backpack.

"Maybe someone's been talking about you." Yutaro suggested, though Asuna didn't seem to agree," By the way, didn't we pass your stop? Like awhile ago?"

"Oh, I'm seeing an old friend today." Asuna stated, as she looked out the bus window before pulling the cord," I'll see you guys tomorrow, ok?"

The boys nodded and Asuna exited the bus once it arrived to her stop. When Asuna parted ways with the boys, she grew tense and uncomfortable, feeling out of place in a neighborhood she hadn't visited in nearly a year. But, she felt the need to come, she had to vent to him and reminisce with him, relish in those memories long past, even if she couldn't tell him the whole truth. She started walking into a street near to the bus stop, but the more she walked, the more her stomach began to tie itself up in knots. It got unbearable quickly and soon enough, Asuna stopped walking and switched directions, heading back to the bus stop.

When she reached the head of the street, she noticed a park on the opposite side of the road, so she walked over there to kill some time at the park. Asuna took a seat on a bench and the edge of the park and drew out a very long sigh.

"How can Tadashi do this so easily?" Asuna wondered out long as she took off her sweater," I thought if I could talk about this stuff with dad, I'd feel at ease, but how do I plan on doing that when I'm too nervous to show up uninvited?"

 _"Um, Teddy?" Dolly began awkwardly," About that...event..."_

 _Teddy closed her eyes and only said," The figure was talking about my biggest regret. It cost me something very special, and I'm not sure if I can ever restore things to the way they used to be."_

"I've tried pushing that thought away to the back of my mind hundreds of times but no matter what I do, it always finds a way to emerge and overwhelm me with this feeling that I don't want to have, not for him at least." Asuna said quietly as she laid down on the bench," I don't these feelings anymore, not when they're no longer mutual. But..."

Asuna thought of him, feeling confused and frustrated, wondering how she could let things come to this. She missed when they were friends, she missed those times when they'd all hang out, when there wasn't any student council, and Asuna hadn't messed things up between them. She didn't expect herself to admit to this feeling, and just assumed it'd disappear over time, but it persisted and that incident at the dollhouse only showed her that it meant more to her than she realized.

She missed Hayase.

"Just how do you feel towards me?" Asuna asked quietly. Hayase was confusing in the sense that sometimes, he treated her like an outsider but when they were alone, no classmates, no other student councils members except Tadashi, that's when things felt somewhat normal, but still off.

 _"Is he ashamed? Have we become so different that he no longer wants anything to do with me?"_ Asuna thought to herself," Maybe he thinks he's too good for me now."

Hayase was never really like that when they were kids, he wouldn't let a prestigious title get to his head so why did that happen now? Or, maybe that wasn't really the case, maybe he just didn't want anything to do with Asuna because of what she did to him. She didn't want to think that, even though she knew that was likely the case.

 _It was around grade one and a new family moved into the neighbourhood. A mom, a dad and two boys occupied the house that had been sold weeks ago. The eldest was five years older than Asuna and the younger was two years older, the same age as her brother. The eldest was adventurous and free-spirited, he loved to roam the playgrounds and streets of the neighbourhood, especially when his mom had yet to give him permission. Always wearing a bright smile on his face, he was a boy who was somewhat tall for his age and never failed to make Asuna, or anyone in this case, smile with him. His name was Toya._

 _The younger boy was a lot quieter, but just as kind. He always wore this apprehensive look on his face when meeting new people but tried to hide his fear with a rather awkward smile. It may have made some people feel at ease around him, but his all-telling, bright blue-green eyes couldn't ever be ignored. His name was Hayase._

 _"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Mitarashi, we thought we'd welcome you into the neighbourhood with a little housewarming gift." Asuna's mom said as she, Asuna, Tadashi and their father stood at the new neighbourhood's doorstep. Her mom held out a cake and Miss Mitarashi at the door took it carefully, inspecting the top of the undecorated cake._

 _"Hope you like Devil's chocolate." Her mom added, while Miss Mitarashi ushered them into the house._

 _"Please, call me Hana." Miss Mitarashi said as she led the family to the living room while she put away the cake in the kitchen._

 _Sitting on the farthest couch in the kitchen were Hana's sons, staring intently at the family. Neither of them said a word, making the parents feel somewhat uncomfortable. But the kids seemed just fine, staring back at them. When Hana returned, she brought cups of green tea for herself and Asuna's parents and took a seat on the chair opposite to them._

 _"So, we bumped into your husband the other day, he was explaining how you guys just moved from Sendai. I guess Yanagizawa is a lot different in comparison, huh?" Asuna's dad asked._

 _Hana took a brief pause from sipping her green tea and said," I guess so, though we in truth hadn't lived in Sendai too long. We had to live abroad for a long time."_

 _Hana then took notice of her children staring holes into the Morino family, laughing awkwardly as she put down her cup of tea._

 _"Boys, how about you go play with the two of them upstairs?" Hana suggested to them. Toya seemed more than willing, literally jumping up from his seat and rushing towards Asuna and Tadashi to grab their hands and lead them upstairs, while Hayase appeared a bit more cautious and followed behind the three of them._

 _Toya showed off his bedroom to Asuna and Tadashi, despite the fact that it hadn't been fully made yet with a set of moving boxes still littering the bedroom. Despite the mess from the moving, Toya was proud to present his new bedroom, since it was the first room he didn't have to share._

 _"I like your room!" Tadashi commented as he looked at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck up on the ceiling," Got any toys?"_

 _"Of course I do!" Toya answered as he grabbed the box of toys in the corner of the room. It looked as if he was going to say something more, but one glance at his brother made him keep quiet. Tadashi and Asuna started looking through all the toys that Toya had._

 _"Wow, I never even seen some of these guys before!" Tadashi remarked as he held up an action figure he didn't recognize, admiring the large toy in his hands._

 _"Our dad works for a toy company, so sometimes we get some of the new stuff before they come out." Hayase explained softly, keeping a safe distance from the three of them._

 _Asuna seemed a bit startled, as it was the first time she heard the younger boy speak. She had been starting to think he wasn't able to up until now. After he spoke up, Hayase had a nervous look on his face and his gaze fell to the floor._

 _"Do you have any of your own toys?" Asuna asked him curiously. Hayase nodded quickly and stood up, leading her out of Toya's bedroom._

 _The two of them were now in Hayase's bedroom, which needed a bit more unpacking than Toya's. Hayase lifted up the flap of a box that was sitting at the foot of his bed and Asuna found a mass of toys inside. All of them looked really cool and there were more action figures than she could count. But then, she noticed something sitting at the top of Hayase's bed._

 _"Hey it's a teddy bear!" Asuna exclaimed as she bolted up and grabbed the bear off of the bed. The bear was really cute, it's fur a very pale brown that could've easily been mistaken for white. The bear's belly was tan and it wore a shiny gold ribbon around its neck. The bear was also quite soft too, and Asuna really liked the feel of the bear's fur._

 _She looked into the bear's eyes, a kind expression on it's face and then towards Hayase._

 _"Is he yours?" Asuna asked him, who nodded in return," He looks really nice. I like teddy bears a lot, do you?"_

 _"Yeah, I like them a lot too." Hayase responded, a shy smile rising to his face._

 _"Hayase was fun to be around, not just because he also liked teddy bears. After getting to know him better, it was easy to see that Hayase was smart and really insightful. It wasn't long until he was smiling and laughing as much as his brother when we'd come over to play. He was always sure to have the best spot to hide during games of hide and seek with the rest of the kids from the neighbourhood and you could tell there was something different about him, in a good way._

 _I wasn't that good at making friends when I was younger, I wasn't interested in talking to the other kids at school, but somehow they still liked me. But I always had the most fun when playing with Tadashi and Hayase. Maybe it was only me thinking this at the time, but I always felt like we were kinda like puzzle pieces."_

 _A younger Asuna was seen at the playground making a sand-castle on her own, while a group of girls a couple feet away from her played with their dolls. Asuna only stared at them for a couple of moments and then returned to her sand-castle building, though she seemed a bit distraught._

 _"We were puzzle pieces that had no other pieces to fit with...but thankfully, we had each other."_

 _Growing up together meant that it was easy to read each other, and it was obvious when someone among the three of them was lying, or simply hiding something. Since Tadashi got to spend a bit more time with Hayase, it took him almost no time to figure out when Hayase started to have feelings for a certain someone. Though, to find out who it was had been tricky._

 _It was middle school and Hayase was always good at paying attention in class, much unlike his best friend Tadashi. But these last few weeks, Tadashi started to notice something was amiss with his best friend. His recently bespectacled best friend was often day-dreaming in class these days and it seemed wherever his mind was drifting off, it was making him happy with the giant smile on his face when a new lesson was getting taught in class. Sure, Hayase didn't necessarily hate school, but that look on his face clearly wasn't meant for their lecture on the structure of animal cells._

 _"He's crushing on someone, but the question is who?" Tadashi thought to himself as he watched Hayase gaze off into space._

 _Tadashi then took a quick look around the class and studied his female classmates to see which girl would've most likely been Hayase's crush. Bookworm Ume, sitting on the opposite end of the classroom, was kinda cute and totally Hayase's type, but those two hadn't ever spoke to each other. Captain of the girls' soccer club Asami had received help from Hayase a few times with school work, but the girl was so out of his league. And then there was that one girl, Kiyoko, who absolutely loved baking and was nice to literally everyone, especially Hayase. But Hayase never really seemed interested in her. Tadashi sighed loudly, garnering an irritated look from his teacher and burrowed his head into his textbook. He decided to just ask Hayase about it after class._

 _"No, I'm not crushing on any of the girls in class." Hayase declared, a blank look on his face while Tadashi groaned. The two of them were walking home together and Hayase kept quiet while Tadashi lamented to him._

 _"Seriously? I was so sure that something has been off with you, you had that lovestruck look on your face in class! So why would you-?" Tadashi said, stopping himself in mid-sentence, before a realization dawned on him," She's not in our class, is she?"_

 _Hayase's eyes opened wide, his gaze fixed on the road ahead of him while he face turned slightly red. Tadashi then laughed and started shaking Hayase excitedly, saying,_

 _"Dude this is big! Your first crush on somebody! Who is it? Come on, you gotta tell me! Is she in the next door class, a sports team, older girl, younger?"_

 _Hayase opened his mouth and closed it promptly, as a look appeared on his face that Tadashi wasn't able to read. Hayase smiled, but it wasn't like the same smile he had on his face earlier. It was similar though, yet had a trace of guilt to it._

 _"You already know her." Hayase stated as he drew out a sigh before that lovestruck smile appeared on his face again._

 _Tadashi expected himself to get more psyched out than he already was, to be feeling over the moon for his best friend, but, he wasn't fully sure what he was feeling. Was it a mixture of happiness for his friend and confusion with a hint of disgust sprinkled in? Most likely, but, there was something in that look on Hayase's face that only made the feeling of happiness survive._

 _"That's great, really. I think you got a chance with her." Tadashi stated as he a put a hand on Hayase's shoulder._

 _During the next couple of months, Tadashi did everything he could to get Hayase and Asuna closer, be it physically or figuratively, he wasn't picky, only determined to help his friend out. Tadashi surmised that asking her out now would've been way too soon, even if they had known each other for years. In order for Hayase to be successful here, he needed more time with just Asuna, doing more than playing with action figures and trying to beat each other in video games. Tadashi tried convincing him to do other stuff like give her compliments, but Hayase wasn't quite good at that, so instead he decided to let his actions speak for him instead._

 _Hayase helped her out with her homework quite often and offered to stay back after his club to walk Asuna home from hers. It was never hard to talk to Asuna, originally Hayase pictured himself tongue-tied right in front of her, unable to string together a coherent sentence but instead, it didn't feel as if much had changed. It was pleasant, but somewhat unsatisfying._

 _Then February rolled in, and as the two were walking home from their clubs together, they saw a couple kissing in the rain. Hayase quickly turned red as a thought crossed his mind but Asuna only rolled her eyes and made a quiet gagging sound._

 _"That's so gross! I get you're dating, you don't need to let every single person on earth know." Asuna claimed as she crossed her arms. Hayase chuckled at Asuna's disgust, but then, he thought about what she said. Single, she mentioned single. Usually Asuna didn't really make puns, and it could've been a coincidence, but Asuna seemed a bit down once they passed the couple._

 _"You don't have plans for Valentine's Day, do you?" Hayase asked her in a forcefully casual voice. Asuna laughed awkwardly and shook her head, trying to rid her face of her that upset look with little avail._

 _"Nah, why would I? Valentine's Day is just for some dumb couples who wanna show off how in love they are. It's nothing special." Asuna claimed, before she lowered her head," You have any plans?"_

 _Hayase shook his head and Asuna then had an idea arrive in her mind._

 _"Let's do something for Valentine's Day!" Asuna suggested excitedly," We'll order the biggest pizza we can get and play video games at my house all night!"_

 _Hayase's eyes were opened wide and he vigorously nodded in response._

 _Their plan was to meet up after school and then to walk to their favourite pizza place to order a gigantic pizza, just for the two of them. Afterwards, they were going to head over to Asuna's house and start playing the new game that came out recently which Tadashi received for his birthday last month. Hayase had brought some of his own games from home too and couldn't wait for the end of the school day._

 _Hayase was putting his books away in his bag, and thinking back to the day Asuna and him made their Valentine's Day plans. Asuna probably didn't want to admit, but she appeared a bit jealous of the couple they passed on the street that day. Maybe today was just her way of feeling included, even if she wasn't spending it with a boyfriend. Hayase only hoped he'd be enough for her._

 _Hayase then looked over to the empty seat next to him and stared at it for a few moments. Tadashi got food poisoning and hadn't been to school in days, but Asuna said that he had been getting better, so they weren't going to trouble him much with their plans today. Plus, the last thing Tadashi wanted was to ruin something as big as this. Hayase then walked over to the spot that Asuna promised to meet up with him, feeling himself grow more excited as time went on. Today would've also been the first time in about a week since they had seen each other since Asuna had been busy this week. Hayase could just picture Asuna, working hard at her volleyball club, putting in extra those extra hours for their upcoming game._

 _He finally reached the place that Asuna told him to meet her at and waited for her to arrive. The area was nice and quiet, a lot less populated than usual since it was a Friday afternoon. He was patient, but before he knew it, a couple of minutes turn into half an hour quickly. Things were starting to look suspicious, but Hayase wasn't sure of what might have happened. Hayase didn't want to leave the spot just in case Asuna came, so he waited some more. An hour passed by and now, Hayase felt like he didn't have any other choice but to leave. And so, Hayase walked home dejectedly, trying to figure out what could've made Asuna miss out on their plans today. Could she somehow have contracted food poisoning from her brother? Or maybe she got called in for another volleyball practice. The possibility of her simply ditching did cross his mind but, it didn't make sense when Asuna had seemed so excited for today._

 _Hayase's mind was swimming and he looked up to the sky, noticing that it looked like it would rain soon. So he walked to the bus stop near the school and looked past all the stores completely decorated in red and pink hearts. There was one cafe that hadn't been done up at all, but the inside of it was definitely much more decorated than any other store in the vicinity. It was both mesmerizing and painful to look at from outside. Hayase then noticed a couple near the center of the cafe, holding hands and talking, laughing with each other as they waited for their orders. The boy he wasn't able to recognize and wished the same had gone for the girl._

 _Hayase was in sheer disbelief and stood there, frozen in place, wanting so desperately to just run away as far as he could. But, he didn't want to be so quick to accuse, so he tried to be reasonable, though it wasn't getting him anywhere. All he was able to do from being rational was figure out why he hadn't heard from Asuna in days._

 _When Hayase got home, his mom told him there was a message on the answering machine that had been there since last night, so immediately he went to listen to it._

 _"Hey Hayase, I'm not able to have you over tomorrow, um something kinda just came up ok? I'll see you around." Asuna said curtly over the phone._

 _Hayase shook his head, she didn't want to even tell him about her date at the cafe._

 _It was his fault, he wasn't quick enough. Hayase didn't expect Asuna to be interested in anyone so instead, he just tried to make things last as long as they could, in deep fear of rejection. It's not as if Asuna knew anyways._

 _"How are you holding up?" Tadashi asked Hayase on the phone a few minutes later. Hayase took the phone upstairs to his room and was lying flat on his bed, still in denial of what happened._

 _"She was with someone else. Some other guy I didn't know and they were at a cafe and holding hands and laughing and..." Hayase trailed off, in realization that he was rambling and only sighed,"You said I had a chance."_

 _"I didn't know Asuna was seeing this guy, and it's not like they'll last forever." Tadashi pointed out between coughs," For now I'd say just take a break from her. Sooner or later, she'll come around."_

 _"Maybe, but I shouldn't be upset over something like this. She doesn't know how I feel about her anyways." Hayase stated._

 _Hayase expected to hear some kinda agreement from Tadashi, but nothing was said. He could telling Tadashi was still on the line though, only making his suspicions grow stronger._

 _"Tadashi?"_

 _"Ok, fine! She knew, but kept her mouth shut about it." Tadashi confessed._

 _"I'm not a good person, I haven't ever been and probably won't ever be a good person. I don't do things for others, only myself. Everything I do is for entertainment, and nothing else."_ Asuna thought to herself on the bench, sitting upside on it now," I don't make good choices and that made Hayase sick of me. I shouldn't blame him, I had it coming."

"But...even I don't deserved to be treated like a stranger, I didn't...I never meant to..." Just then, Asuna's phone started to ring and quickly she answered it.

"Hey," Asuna greeted over the phone.

"Asuna, we got trouble at the playground near the school, can you get here soon?" Kiriko asked in a panic over the phone.

"Of course," Asuna responded quickly before she hung up and ran to the bus stop, trying to catch the bus that just arrived.

Kiriko was standing next to Mari and the two of them could be found at the side of the school, watching the Defective made from a backpack chase students away from the school. Mari held out her PlayPact and Kiriko followed suite, while saying,

"I'm so sorry about this, Tadashi."

Meanwhile, Sophie just arrived in front of the school, with her PlayPact in hand. Luckily for her, she had no trouble finding the Defective, or her fellow teammates fighting against it, but she noticed that something, or rather someone was missing. Sophie looked around the school yard before entering and discovered that Teddy was nowhere to be found. Just then, a bus on the opposite side of the road pulled up and Asuna could be found running towards the school with her PlayPact in hand.

"Asuna, where have you been?" Sophie asked as Asuna approached her and joined her in hiding by the fence along the school.

Asuna didn't make eye-contact, keeping her gaze on the fight as she curtly said," I was going over to my dad's house today. Ready?"

Sophie nodded and the two of them held their PlayPacts up high, shouting in unison," Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!" Teddy announced.

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!" Bubbly announced.

The two Cures ran to the scene and joined Dolly and Fantasy in fighting against the Defective. Teddy sprinted towards the Defective and held her hands in front of herself as she drew closer to the Defective.

"Pretty Cure, flame of hope!" Teddy shouted. Flames erupted out from her hands and her attack was relentless against the Defective, covering it a mass of flames that didn't diminish very easily. Teddy seemed proud of her attack, but Dolly and Fantasy appeared to be a bit worried. Bubbly wasn't even getting a chance to fight against the Defective because of Teddy and regrouped with the rest of her team.

"Should we tell her that the Defective was made from Tadashi?" Fantasy whispered to Dolly. Dolly wore an unsure look on her face for a few moments, her gaze still fixated on the fight between Teddy and the Defective. She only shook her head in response moments later.

"Don't you think that's a bit cruel?" Bubbly pointed out to her.

"Well, she might not be as...aggressive if we tell her otherwise." Dolly stated, moments before Teddy tossed the Defective into the school building. Bubbly and Fantasy stared at the Defective sliding down against the wall, mouths agape while Dolly had flinched and turned her head away from the sight, unwilling to see what kind of damage had been dealt to the building. Teddy however had seemed like she had been having fun, only this time, she appeared to be a lot more impulsive in her actions.

"You really think she wouldn't stay aggressive if you told her? She's _always_ aggressive." Bubbly reminded her flatly," Anyways, who even summoned this Defective?"

Dolly and Fantasy only offered her matching blank expressions, with the latter answering with," We don't know. It just appeared out of nowhere."

Bubbly seemed confused and she wanted to try to rationalize this but, the girls seemed just as confused as her so she put the topic to rest while her fellow Cures rejoined the battle. Dolly ran as fast as she could towards the fight and saw Teddy trying to do yet another attack made from fire. Dolly sighed and almost gave her teammate a nod of disapproval, not like she would've seen it though, she had been way too immersed in her fight against the Defective and Teddy herself had probably lost count of how many times she preformed that attack.

Teddy jumped up and extended out her right hand, expecting yet another mass of flames to shoot out from them. But nothing had appeared. The smile on Teddy's face instantly disappeared and she looked at her hand curiously before the Defective grabbed a hold of her and tossed the Cure clad in brown across the schoolyard.

"Don't worry, I got you!" Fantasy reassured as she stood with her feet firmly on the ground, bracing herself for the impact of Teddy being thrown towards her. But, despite her efforts, she still found herself getting ripped off the ground and crashing to her feet, breaking Teddy's fall.

"Aw, are you kidding? Of all times, my powers choose to act up now?" Teddy lamented as she stepped off of Fantasy.

Fantasy seemed a bit irritated that Teddy didn't even say thank you, but she was more concerned over the fact that Teddy seemed this surprised that her attack didn't work after multiple uses of it. Fantasy then scurried to her feet and tried to block Teddy from rejoining the fight for a moment to speak with her.

"You've exhausted a good amount of your magic, haven't you been keeping track?" Fantasy asked her in a worried tone.

"No." Teddy said flatly as she tried to walk past Fantasy, but she didn't allow her through.

Fantasy then blurted out," Are you feeling ok? Like...I mean, has something been bothering you?"

Teddy's eyes opened wide for a second and she had an impatient look on her face as she finally walked past Fantasy and said," I don't have the time to be talking about this kinda stuff."

As she brushed past Fantasy, Teddy had a more somber expression on her face for a moment, but went back into the fight without a second thought.

Dolly and Bubbly had joined forced and created a whirlpool together in an attempt to engulf the Defective. The attack spiraled around the Defective, tossing it around and then up into the air, but it wasn't long before the Defective gained control again and devoured the attack through unzipping and closing itself promptly after. Bubbly and Dolly gazed at the Defective, dumb-founded as they tried to process what just happened.

"Isn't that breaking the rules or something?" Bubbly asked in an exasperated tone while Dolly shrugged.

"You know, I think we can make use of this." Dolly stated before she turned her attention to Fantasy and Teddy," And I think I know how."

Dolly then noticed Fantasy seemed to have been in deep thought and judging by the look on her face, she had been thinking about the Defective's strange attack. Fantasy then snapped out of it and ran towards Dolly and Bubbly.

"I've got an idea!" Dolly and Fantasy said in unison.

Teddy was keeping the Defective preoccupied in the meantime, attacking mindlessly and not giving herself any time to catch a break, not even for a moment. Even if it seemed like she was just trying to keep the Defective busy, it seemed like she was trying to do more than that. All she really wanted right now was to keep herself caught up in battle so she wouldn't have a moment to think about her next move or her other concerns.

Teddy tried throwing a punch towards the Defective but it grabbed her arm in an instant and held her up.

 _"What's wrong with me? I already tried doing that and it didn't work! Why did I expect things to go differently?"_ Teddy thought to herself, before she was reminded of what happened early and what she thought about from years past," Why did I expect things to go differently?"

"Teddy, what do you think you're doing zoning out like that?!" Dolly then shouted, startling everyone in the area considering she wasn't one to raise her voice plus her shouting was a lot louder than expected," I don't know what's been bothering you today, but if one thing's for certain, I know you're stronger than this!"

Teddy wasn't sure of what to say and only smiled while closing her eyes, feeling quite exhausted. The Defective then unzipped itself and held Teddy above the opening to drop her in. Bubbly was terrified and was going to run towards the Defective to stop it, but Dolly stopped her.

Teddy then opened her eyes again, a more relaxed look in them as she said," Ok, let's try this once more."

The Defective dropped Teddy inside and zipped up the opening again while Teddy inspected her surroundings, though she wasn't quite successful in doing so due to how dark it was inside. Teddy then hugged herself as she tried to see what the inside of the Defective was like.

"It's pretty cold in here." Teddy remarked quietly as she slowly stood up," That can't be very good for you. How about we warm things up in here?"

She then held both of her palms open and exhaled a deep breath. She looked up to the top where she had been dropped from and a pair of small, glittery flames flickered out from her hands.

"I might be a bad person, but at least I'm not bad at this Pretty Cure stuff." Teddy said aloud, her tone more level now," If anything, this could easily be the only thing I'm good for. I don't really have any issues with that though. Maybe this is how things are supposed to be, at least for now. The good thing is...things don't have to stay like this."

The flames in her hands grew large, larger than any flame she had ever created as she said," Being a Pretty Cure is actually more fun than I expected. I get to use magic and beat up monsters left and right. I don't have to deal with any lame school assignments and I always win. It's such a nice feeling."

"I also like to use this Pretty Cure stuff as an outlet. An outlet to escape to when I'm sick of my own problems and want to avoid things. Maybe I do that too much, but if this Pretty Cure job has taught me anything..."

Teddy then spun around and the flames launched out from her palms, causing the interior of the bag to catch on fire.

"...I can overcome more than I think. And I will overcome anything in my way."

"Pretty Cure, Vigilant Ember!"

The Defective then unzipped itself and Teddy jumped out. The flames from inside the Defective had managed to set its entire body on fire and there were no sign of it stopping. The attack was a lot stronger than expected and so Bubbly stepped in to distinguish the flames, leaving the Defective unable to move.

Teddy then smiled and said," I'll finish things here, ok?"

Teddy then conjured up her scepter and held it up high, though she wasn't really sure of what she doing. Relying on only her intuition, Teddy pressed her eyes shut and held the scepter tight.

"Pretty Cure, Teddy Bear Picnic!" She shouted, as the atmosphere turned yellow, orange and gold in mid-sentence. A swarm of flaming sunflowers appeared and smothered the Defective, returning it to its original form.

"Great job, Teddy!" Fantasy cheered as she and the rest of the group ran towards her. Bubbly threw her arms around her and Teddy just looked at the small backpack a few feet away from her, feeling as if she had seen it somewhere before.

She then replayed what she said earlier from inside the Defective.

 _"I don't have to settle for this, things might not be the exact same. But...anything is an upgrade from what things between us are like right now."_ Teddy thought to herself.

A couple of days later, Tadashi and Shina were seen sitting on the bus together, where Tadashi was bringing his fellow student council member up to speed on all the stuff she missed while she was on vacation. Tadashi wasn't as energetic as he usually was and Shina was quick to catch on, but she said nothing about it.

"So basically, we got Nanae to join the newspaper club and we're planning to disband the debate club if they can't find five more members by the end of next week." Tadashi relayed, his gaze meeting Shina's for only a moment," All and all, not much has gone on, just planning fundraisers and the usual."

Shina nodded in response and jotted notes down into her book as she said," Nothing else has happened, nothing too draining, right?"

"No, why?" Tadashi asked as he checked which stop they were at.

"Just curious." Shina answered briefly, her eyes darting to him for just a moment.

Sophie had been on the same bus as them, her gaze on the two of them as she tried figuring out if she had seen them before. They both looked vaguely familiar and they even wore the same uniforms and the rest of her team did. But despite all her intense concentrating, she couldn't identify them. She sighed and then looked out the window, only a couple more stops now until she was at Cafe Rosewood.

Just then, the bus came to a screeching halt and the bus driver then started yelling. Sophie looked towards the front and saw a girl with greyish-pink hair wearing a black kimono blocking the path. The bus driver was yelling at her to get out of the way, but she had her gaze set on something, or rather, someone else. Sophie felt frozen as her gaze met the girl's, she could've sworn she had been staring directly at her.

The girl then tilted her head, a vacant look in her eye before she lifted up her left hand and blasted the bus a few feet backwards, asking,

"Are you a Pretty Cure?"


	25. Doubtful Dolly pt 1

Sophie stood up slowly, not ready to make eye contact with that woman again. She instead took a quick look around the bus to make sure everyone was ok. No injuries and everyone appeared to be safe thankfully. She watched as Shina forced Tadashi to stay in his seat before returning her gaze to the girl who blasted the bus a few feet back.

She stood there, patiently though a very upset look was on her face. Sophie looked at her and the minute she laid eyes on the woman, her gaze was immediately fixated on Sophie. Sophie took a step back nervously, taking out her phone and dialling up a number.

"Mari, there's this girl who looks like she's from Asperity by the library near your school. I need you to come over, do you think you can bring Kiriko and Asuna here too?" Sophie said, her heart racing as she watched the girl inch closer to the bus.

"Of course, we'll be there soon ok? Just try to stay calm." Mari advised her before she hung up. Easy for her to say, since she hadn't even learned that the mysterious girl had the strength of an average Defective. She was probably way stronger than one of them too. The thing that really bothered Sophie about her was that she appeared to just be waiting around for her. She didn't seem very intent on entering the bus, but she didn't stop glaring at Sophie. So eventually, Sophie slowly walked out of the bus, with a few people protesting her not to do so.

Shina and Tadashi were watching Sophie's every move from the back of the bus, not unlike the girl standing outside. The bus had fallen quiet now and most people had their eyes on the girl who blast the bus away. Tadashi tried to get a better look of the girl from his seat while Shina inspected Sophie.

"Isn't that the local model girl?" Shina asked quietly as she hid her face behind the bus seat,"Why does she feel so inclined to do something heroic here?"

Sophie then took a step outside of the bus and took a deep breath, feeling a bit less tense now that she had finally exited the bus. The girl continued to stare her down and she began walking towards Sophie. Sophie had a feeling that if the girl really wanted to, she likely could've sprinted towards her and do the same thing she did to the bus on her, so Sophie kept her guard up and walked cautiously over.

"I assume you're friends Jack and the rest of those guys?" Sophie asked awkwardly before the woman stopped walking to her. The woman closed her eyes and placed her hands on her chest.

"Regret, betrayal, anguish, abandonment. An absence of light, a force created from grief. That is what Pretty Cure fight against. However, Pretty Cure are weak and impure. I want to demolish and decimate the Pretty Cure, and I'll start with you." The woman declared as a large translucent magenta, blue and pink tiled square appeared behind her. Just then, Kiriko, Asuna and Mari rushed to the scene, all of them with their PlayPacts at hands reach. The girls stood by Sophie and the girl eyed them curiously.

"Are you a member of Asperity?" Kiriko asked as the square unfolded itself, enclosing the five of them inside of it. The girl didn't say anything in response and moments later, the group was completely obscured from the eyes of the bystanders.

"What just happened...?" Tadashi asked as he stood up, leaning to get a better look at the large cube," And...why were Kiriko and Asuna there?"

Inside the cube, the girls were standing before the woman who took a few steps back as she said,

"You make up for your lack of strength in numbers." The woman stated plainly as stretched out her arms," I am Rubix, and I am going to make sure you girls are reduced to nothingness."

"As if we just came back from training to hear stuff like this." Teddy said as she and the rest of the girls took out their transformation devices.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" The four of them said in unison.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

Rubix then smiled for the first in the presence of the girls and immediately she darted towards the girls. The moment that Rubix looked ready to take off, Bubbly noticed and alerted the rest of her teammates quickly.

"Be careful of her! She's a lot stronger than she-!" Bubbly suddenly received a blow to the stomach from Rubix who she didn't even see coming. She looked up, but she wasn't nearby. Bubbly then saw Rubix going after Fantasy next and was about to call out for her, but then Teddy leapt up, with a pair of flaming spheres in hand.

"Quick, aren't we?" Teddy said as she stood between Fantasy and Rubix, only a couple of inches away from the latter. Rubix wasn't even the slightest bit impressed with Teddy's speed and immediately grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt and tossed her into the ground mercilessly. Once Teddy was on the ground, the pain shot through her instantly, she couldn't believe how strong the girl was, it didn't make any sense. All she saw was Rubix looking at her for a moment, an unimpressed look on her face before she set for her next target.

Dolly was apprehensive as soon as she saw Teddy fighting to get back on her feet. It would've usually taken a lot more than that to keep Teddy down and the fact that she herself had yet to be targeted was making her anxious.

 _"Where would she try and attack from? Perhaps, from a blind side like the back?"_ Dolly thought to herself as she turned around, her gaze meeting Rubix's. She tried to dodge Rubix's attack but Rubix was once step ahead of her and aimed her attack right where she moved to. A glowing black and turquoise sphere was blasted right into her chest and sent her flying a few feet back. Dolly felt a burning sensation emerge in her chest and she held her hands over her chest in an attempt to fight back the pain. Dolly didn't want to quit so easily though, so she tried her best to get back on her feet while Rubix took a hold of Fantasy by her wrists.

"Is this how you fight?" Rubix asked Fantasy, who had just tried immersing her into an illusion," Is this all you can do?"

Bubbly then darted up to her, holding her hands out as she shouted," Pretty Cure, whirlpool of justice!"

Tendrils of water then streamed out from her hands towards Rubix who let go out Fantasy and jumped up very high in the air. Bubbly wasn't discouraged that her attack missed though, she still had some tricks up her sleeve.

"I'm not through with you yet!" Bubbly declared as she conjured up another pair of tendrils, these ones sprouting up high, only a few inches away from Rubix now.

"Abolish." Rubix said tonelessly, and in that very instant, Bubbly's attack disappeared. Rubix floated back down on the ground, looking at all the damage she did. She wasn't surprised, nor was she satisfied. She had yet to defeat the Pretty Cure and that's all she wanted to right now.

"You fight for a hopeless kingdom. The Laruan Kingdom doesn't care about you girls, they only want your help. If you happen to save their kingdom, your demise will be in vain and you'll be forgotten, erased from their memories and lost to time." Rubix declared sternly as she walked around the Cures in a circle," You don't stand a chance. It isn't worth the struggle when you'll never be strong enough to protect the hopeless kingdom. Give up."

Dolly shook her head and choked out the words," Never! Not now, not tomorrow or next week, Never. Do you hear me? We don't plan on giving up anytime soon! Not after all we've been through so far."

Rubix clenched her teeth and took a deep breath, finally saying," Your mistake."

The cube and Rubix disappeared, leaving only the girls, with their transformations reversed, in the middle of the road.

"That girl was insane, I don't think we've ever fought against someone like her..." Sophie remarked as she slowly got up to her feet, with Mari nodding in response.

"Again, it's like..." Kiriko said to herself slowly as she thought about Rubix's words," ...We're missing details. We haven't been told everything."

That afternoon, when Kiriko got home she marched straight up to her room as usual but time, she walked with purpose with her mind stuck on that fight against Rubix. Kiriko took a deep breath and opened the door to her room, finding Rani holding a copy of the Lost Kingdom of Toys that Kiriko bought recently. Rani looked up, smiled and greeted Kiriko though Kiriko seemed tense. Rani just assumed she had a big assignment coming up which would typically lead her to crashing onto her bed and cuddling one of her soft toys, but she didn't do any of that today.

Instead, Kiriko grabbed her chair at her computer desk and took a seat in front of Rani, gesturing to see the book. Rani complied and handed the book to Kiriko, who closed it and pointed to the cover saying,

"We need to know more. And I think you've been withholding information from us."

Rani panicked slightly, not expecting such an accusation from Kiriko at a time like this, but Kiriko then retracted her statement quickly.

"I didn't mean to scare you like that! It's just, some of this just doesn't make sense and I have this need to fill in those gaps. Like...today we just met a new villain. Incredibly strong but I don't know where and how she came from and why she hates the kingdom so much. It's not just her too, we know Lilith clearly hates the kingdom but, why? What happened to make her so full of animosity towards the kingdom. What exactly happened?" Kiriko asked in an exhausted voice.

"We probably should've explained this before but, we weren't sure if we were allowed to. But, I think you deserve to know." Rani declared with a firm nod," King Sterling was not ever meant to be the king. He was the second-born to the family, the kingdom was supposed to belong to his older brother, Theo. Knowing that he was never going to be king, Sterling lived as a free spirit, and always left the castle grounds whenever he wanted to. Then one day, he met Lilith. Lilith was trying to get the throne, so she used Sterling to get it, knowing that Theo had fallen gravely ill. Once Theo passed, there was no other choice but to make Sterling king but, Lilith still wasn't able to obtain the throne. Imogen came from a well-known and powerful family in the kingdom, so Sterling saved the kingdom from getting ruled by Lilith. Or at least, that's what we thought."

"Was that when Lilith attacked the kingdom?" Kiriko asked with Rani nodding in response.

"Things took a turn for the worse once Lilith found out that she couldn't reach the throne through Sterling. So she showed her true colours and attacked. Cure Cheer fought with all her might and yet, she still couldn't defeat Lilith for good. Lilith is manipulative and some in the kingdom still chide Sterling for falling into her trap. All Lilith wants is power, to rule over others and make them miserable. That's all I know, I haven't heard of this Rubix person, so unfortunately, I can't do much explaining about her." Rani explained as Kiriko placed her in her lap.

"That's fine, you've explained a lot already." Kiriko said as she put the book down," But wouldn't it have been easier to have taken the well in the first place? I mean, if it were me, I would've gone straight to the well before trying to take the throne."

Rani shrugged and just then, Kiriko heard the door open from downstairs. Kiriko looked at the clock on her wall, wondering who would've come at this hour. Mom and Dad wouldn't come home until much later in the evening, so that only left one other person.

"Anybody home?" A familiar voice shouted from downstairs. Kiriko rushed down and found Kozue standing in the doorway, with a suitcase right next to her. Kiriko ran towards her sister and hugged her tightly, much tighter than Kozue expected and sighed just before the hug was broken. Kozue looked at her younger sister and studied her face. She might've looked mostly the same since her last visit, but things felt off. She looked worn out and drained, but Kozue couldn't figure out why. It seemed Kiriko was in dire need of some down time, though that wasn't what Kozue had planned for her visit.

"This weekend I want to do something very fun, alright?" Kozue declared with Kiriko nodding in response, though she didn't seem sure of what Kozue meant," This weekend I'll be treating you and we're going to do whatever you like!"

Kiriko wore a surprised look on her face, eyes wide as she only responded with," What?"

Kozue nodded vigorously saying," I feel like we haven't spent a lot of time together, even when I come home during my breaks so I was thinking we could have some girl time, you know? Just sisterly bonding over anything you want to do!"

Kiriko fell silent, but she no longer looked surprised but rather, suspicious while she narrowed her eyes at her sister.

 _"This is peculiar, is this really my sister? Or an imposter?"_ Kiriko thought to herself while Kozue took notice of how skeptic Kiriko appeared.

"Oh come on! I just wanna spend time with you! Besides, you don't ever do this kinda stuff anyways." Kozue pointed out as she rolled her suitcase besides the stairs before picking it up," You still do nothing but schoolwork and regular work, don't you?"

"Well...yeah I guess so." Kiriko responded hesitantly, biting her tongue as the thought of her Pretty Cure duties came to mind," But, I'm not really sure of what I would like to do."

Kozue then led Kiriko over to the couches in the living room so they could brainstorm some ideas. Kiriko was doubtful they could come up with any good ideas, not because Kozue wouldn't have good suggestions but because anything Kiriko would've enjoyed doing wouldn't have been deemed "fun" by her older sister. Kiriko racked her brain trying to thinking of stuff that she liked to do that was universally seen as fun. Apparently studying wasn't fun, according to Kozue, and neither was cleaning a room. Kiriko considered going bowling but it had been years since they went together and she didn't want to be watched by so many people.

"Well, since you'll be starting university in a few months, how about we go to the mall and reinvent your look?" Kozue suggested, excitement creeping up in her voice.

"My...my look?" Kiriko repeated in bewilderment before giving herself a quick head-to-toe inspection," What's wrong with my look?"  
"Nothing, it is nice as it is, very mature and sophisticated but...you always look like that. And I know this isn't your real taste. Maybe we could find something you'd really like, like something pastel and cute!" Kozue said enthusiastically.

Kiriko forced a smile, not wanting to put a damper on Kozue's mood. The thought of going out to the mall and just shopping actually sounded quite nice but Kiriko's mind had been so cluttered with thoughts about the kingdom and the fight with Rubix that she wasn't sure if a mall crawl would be enough to lift her spirits. But, the afternoon had only just begun and mom and dad wouldn't be home for a while, so what would be the harm in hanging out with Kozue?

Kiriko shrugged saying," Yeah, that sounds like fun, I'm in."

Kozue smiled excitedly and scrambled to get her favourite purse from her bedroom, while Kiriko just took a seat in the meanwhile. She looked down at her lap, thinking about how much weaker she felt after today's encounter with Rubix. Just when she thought the team was getting somewhere and beginning to improve, that Rubix girl had to appear and ruin things. She fought like a machine with the utmost precision and free from error, just who was she? Before Kiriko had anymore time to think about it, Kozue came rushing back downstairs and led Kiriko outside to her car.

The two girls arrived at the mall shortly after, their car ride full of idle small talk that Kiriko was surprisingly not tired from. Despite the fact that she obviously had Kozue's number, she didn't have the chance to talk to her all that much during the last few weeks. Between school work, her job and her Pretty Cure duties, Kiriko found herself too busy and felt guilty as she as she started talking to Kozue. But, Kozue didn't seem to mind that Kiriko hadn't talked to her that much, she considered it inevitable since she appeared to be as busy as ever. Kozue also was too busy thinking about her plans with her parents and Kiriko she had yet to mention to even remind herself of how little the two of them spoke to each other as of recently.

"So, we'll head into whatever store you want. Today is all about you, alright?" Kozue declared with a wink, matching her pace to Kiriko's.

Kiriko smiled politely and then took a look around the mall. It was bustling with people, students and adults alike; not too surprising for a Friday afternoon. It had been awhile since Kiriko visited the mall, so she had been met with many new stores popping up in former vacant spaces. None of them really interested her though. She then noticed a group of high-school girls pass by them and Kiriko felt somewhat unsettled as they crossed paths before noticing the mall was swarming with students this afternoon. It only made sense that there would be plenty of students here but, somehow Kiriko felt out of place as she walked through the mall with her sister.

Hanging out at the mall with your friends was something probably every highschool kid had done countless times before, and the realization of this made Kiriko feel as if she had been missing out on something important. She wondered what it would've been like to come with her teammates, the thought of doing so bringing a smile to her face.

Kiriko then bumped into Kozue, not realizing her sister had stopped walking, and looked up to find that they were right in front of a new store.

"Cinderella's Closet?" Kiriko read aloud before taking a look at the store.

"Wow, it's nice to see this store's getting popular." Kozue remarked before turning to face Kiriko," They opened up their first shop in Tokyo, wanna go in?"

"Didn't Cinderella wear only rags? Why would they give the store a name like that?" Kiriko asked aloud plainly, before Kozue chuckled while dragging her into the store.

The store was gigantic and filled with all kinds of clothes. From dark neutral wear for the office to bright outfits for the summer, the store had it all. Despite the store's size, it wasn't extremely busy or flooded with people. But the amount of clothes here was somewhat overwhelming for Kiriko.

"Now remember, you pick what _you_ want." Kozue reminded her,prodding her finger into Kiriko's chest," You don't always have to dress to impress. You can dress in what makes you feel like, well...you!"

Kiriko looked around the store and tried to find a section that she liked. From the corner of her eye, Kiriko found a spot in the store reserved for pastel coloured clothes, so she instinctively went towards it.

While Kiriko was looking through all the clothes, Kozue kept an eye on her, her expression getting tense when Kiriko wasn't looking.

 _"I can't get nervous now, I've been planning this for months."_ Kozue said in her head as she thought about her parents _," This needs to be done."_

Kiriko held up a white shirt with a frilled trimming in front of her body and looked over to Kozue for her opinion. Kozue flashed her a thumbs-up and gestured her to pick out some more clothes. Kiriko nodded attentively and searched through the aisles for more clothes, giving Kozue some more time to think. Kiriko inspected the rack of clothes in front of her, trying to envision herself in each garment to determine if it would look good on her. But then, Kozue's words rang through her head again. As long as Kiriko felt comfortable in it, then it would be fine. She kept telling herself that but trying to steer away from what she would typically wear was harder than she realized.

"Whatever you like, not what people expect you to like." Kiriko said to herself quietly, picking out a pale pink tank top and pastel blue shorts.

Kozue smiled as Kiriko began to pick out more clothes. Once Kiriko had decided on which clothes to buy, the two of them went up to cash register. Kiriko was just about to pay but then Kozue held her arm in front of her to protest.

Kozue then said," It's on me."

Kiriko was taken aback, already feeling guilty at the thought of having Kozue pay for her. Kiriko shook her head but Kozue was insistent and already had her wallet out. Once the two left the store, Kiriko took the bags from Kozue and to two began to walk around the mall, with no idea of where to go next. Kiriko opened up her bag to take a look at the clothes that Kozue bought for her, a small smile rising to her face.

"Thanks for the clothes, I really appreciate it." Kiriko said to her sister," So, where next?"

"Up to you." Kozue reminded her as the two stopped walking for a moment. The sisters stood in the center of the walkway, trying to figure out what other stores they could visit. Kiriko mentally ran through all the stores she liked in the mall to make things easier. She wouldn't mind walking into Omnimint, a store that specialized in alternative fashion but the store may have been too expensive for Kozue. There was also that one toy store on the other end of the mall, but Kiriko didn't feel ready to walk in there just yet. Finally, an idea came to her.

"How about we go to the bookstore?" Kiriko suggested cheerfully.

"There's a bookstore in here?" Kozue asked, making Kiriko freeze up on the spot," Actually, there is one in the plaza a few blocks down the road. There's also...ok, let's go there! But first, I want to take you somewhere special first."

Kiriko nodded and Kozue led them outside to the car. The drive there may have only been five minutes, but Kiriko wasn't very familiar with this part of town. She wasn't even sure if they were going to the bookstore anymore. She looked out the windows, keeping an eye out for the bookstore as they pulled up into a plaza. There was a bookstore there thankfully, but it appeared Kozue was leading Kiriko elsewhere. Kiriko surveyed the set of stores Kozue was walking towards and tried to figure out where they were headed.

Kozue led Kiriko to a place called the Water Lily Spa. Kozue held the door open for Kiriko and they walked inside. The spa was bright with it's multitude of fluorescent lights and there were a lot of women here getting their hair styled or their nails done. Kiriko exhaled at the sight before her, she had never set foot in a spa before.

Kozue walked up towards the receptionist and smiled to her.

"Just a mani-pedi for me and my sister." Kozue requested as the woman wrote it down into her notebook," Is Hana in today? If she is, could we get her?"

The receptionist gave her a curious look but then nodded and had the girls take a seat in the meanwhile. The girls didn't have to wait too long and soon, Hana appeared from the back.

"Someone requested me?" Hana asked the receptionist in a skeptic tone before her eyes met Kozue," Oh, Kozue! It's been such a long time."

"Hana, it's so good to see you!" Kozue said as she gave the older woman a small hug. Hana then ushered the girls towards a pair of lounge like chairs and went to get some tools.

"I went to this nail salon all the time when I was in high-school." Kozue explained in Hana's absence," My friends and I would get matching manicures, but we'd always get really detailed nail art so it'd get expensive really quick. Hana's great at nail art and she's very nice. We all enjoyed talking to her and including her when we'd gossip. There were times where she even gave us relationship advice."

Kiriko giggled and then said," I like her already, but...what happened to those friends from high school? Are you still in contact with them?"

"Some of them, but others just kinda went their own way and stopped talking to us." Kozue explained, her gaze dropping to the floor," I guess it was bound to happen but it's ok."

"Remember when you did tutoring at your middle school? Wasn't that how you met some of your high school friends?" Kiriko questioned just as Hana came back, with Kozue nodding in response.

"Did you like tutoring, or did you just do it because mom and dad said you should?" Kiriko asked as Hana instructed them to put their feet in a bucket in front of them.

"At first I liked it but then, it felt tedious after a while. I did it too much and then I got stressed out, plus once mom and dad found out they wanted me to do it way more often than usual. I felt guilty about quitting but, it was in my best interests." Kozue explained as she leaned back into the chair.

"Do you remember who was the last kid you tutored?" Kiriko asked curiously.

"Actually, I think it was Hana's son." Kozue stated," He was failing science in his first year so I helped him out. By the way, how are your boys doing? Is the older one still studying abroad?"

Hana nodded and drew out a sigh as she said," His term ends next month, just when things were getting quiet around the house! As soon as he steps into the house, I swear we won't have any peace and quiet as long as he's around."

"Aw, well I'm sure he's been missing his home an awful lot." Kozue reassured with a laugh," It's not like he's able to just drive down whenever he wants. It probably gets a bit dull in your house now with only the two of you anyways."

"Well, I'd prefer that then the headache I'll get as soon as Toya comes home." Hana confessed as she opened up a binder filled with nail art photos,"So, what will it be today? Holographic prints? Or maybe shellac, or acrylics, oh this colour is really in season!"

Kozue nodded and looked over to Kiriko, who still seemed to have her eyes on the holographic finish. Kiriko leaned in closer to get a better look at them, resulting in Hana to reach out for a sample manicure board next to her. Hana tilted it up and down to show Kiriko how the sparkles would catch in the light.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Hana asked her with a smile," Perhaps you two would like to get matching manicures?"

The two of them nodded and so Hana got to work, starting with Kiriko.

"You haven't gone to the mall lately, have you?" Kozue asked while Kiriko was getting her nails done, with Kiriko shaking her head in response," I see, well, I noticed you're always busy and you seem to do nothing but schoolwork and stuff. I know your studies are important but I just wanted to say, your life shouldn't be spent doing nothing but work, you know? I haven't seen you do something just fun in a long time and when I do, it's typically just watching you hole yourself up in your room with a new picture book. Not that it's a bad thing, it's just...I don't really see you hang out with friends or anything. I think you'd enjoy some time spent with like-minded people."

Kiriko thought about her sister's words for a few moments, her gaze on her lap as an unreadable expression appeared to her face. Maybe it would've been nice to do something like this with the rest of her team, just hang out at the mall for a day or get their nails done with matching nail art like how Kozue did with her friends. The thought of it made Kiriko smile and then she remembered Kozue's exact words.

"Oh, do they really need to be like-minded?" Kiriko asked her sister curtly, though Kozue didn't seem to follow," You said to spend time with like-minded people, but my friends are exactly like me."

Kozue's eyes widened in surprised as she said," Kiriko, you've made new friends? And it's not just the boys from your student council team, right?"

"Yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you about that." Kiriko said sheepishly as she pulled out her phone," Would you like to see pictures of them?"

Kozue nodded attentively and Kiriko passed her the phone, though all her pictures came from their social media pages. Kozue didn't seem to mind that Kiriko wasn't the one who took these pics as she scrolled through them.

"Oh, is that the model girl from the magazines? Wow, I would never expect you to meet her, let alone be friends with her," Kozue remarked as she inspected Sophie's picture," Ah, she's quite pretty."

Kiriko leaned towards her and saw that she was talking about Asuna. Kiriko nodded in response, she never really thought of that word when describing Asuna until now. Kozue handed her the phone.

"I'm glad you've been making friends, it's good to see you've become more outgoing and open. It's surprising, but it's the good kind of surprise." Kozue stated, her tone sounding quite relieved.

Kiriko nodded as a smile rose to her face, moments before they heard a loud sound come from outside. It sounded like a collision, and then a car alarm went off. Everyone in the spa tried looking out to see what was going on. Kiriko stretched a bit and sat straight to get a better view. She saw a familiar face and suddenly, her heart dropped.

Standing on top of a car in the parking lot was Rubix, looking around as if she lost something here at the lot. Kiriko then ducked down, having a nagging feeling that the thing Rubix was looking for was her. Kiriko sighed and shook her head. She just got beaten by her hours ago, so what was she doing here again? Kiriko glared at Rubix, who was looking away, wondering if she ever got tired.

Kiriko then remembered how earlier she was lamenting to Rani about how she didn't know anything about Rubix and how frustrating it was to her. So, an idea came to Kiriko's mind. She stepped up from her seat and removed her feet from the little tub and started to walk outside. Kozue then tried to pull her back insistently, but Kiriko shrugged her off.

"What are you trying to do?" Kozue asked her in a panicked voice.

"I just want have a word with her." Kiriko said in the calmest voice she could manage as she walked outside towards Rubix.

Rubix jumped up from the car, looking as if she was ready to take her leave from the parking lot. Rubix grabbed onto a lamp post and swung herself from it, ready to leap onto the building across from her, but then Kiriko called out to her.

"Whatcha up to?" Kiriko asked, but Rubix didn't pay any attention to her, it didn't even seem like she heard Kiriko. She drew out a deep sigh, almost certain that Rubix was ignoring her as she walked closer towards her.

"You sure know how to keep yourself busy, I'll give you that." Kiriko remarked in a snide tone, continuing to walk closer," I can't say I usually see someone from Asperity twice within the same day."

Rubix was muttering something to herself, her eyes pressed shut as she placed her hands against each other. Kiriko crept towards her slowly, trying to figure out what Rubix was trying to do since it appeared she wasn't here to fight.

When Rubix opened her eyes, she spread her hands apart and said something quietly, causing a translucent blue and pink cube to appear and grow at a rapid rate. The cube enveloped her and Kiriko moved closer towards her, only to get caught up into the cube too. The cube suddenly shrunk in an instant and both Kiriko and Rubix were transported to somewhere far from the salon parking lot.

Kiriko stood feeling somewhat disoriented before she took a good look at her surroundings. They had appeared to have been taken to some small forest outside of town without a single soul in sight. It was an unsettling kind of quiet in the little forest, but Rubix didn't seem to mind. She had yet to even notice that she brought Kiriko along with her. Kiriko decided to spy on Rubix since it appeared that she hadn't come to the salon for a fight. Kiriko hid behind a tree and kept a close eye on Rubix, who was standing completely still with her eyes closed.

"I'm closer...but she is still quite far away..." Rubix said to herself as she slowly opened her eyes.

 _"Who is she looking for? Someone from Asperity?"_ Kiriko thought to herself before a realization dawned onto her _," The Princess!"_

Rubix kept her eyes close for a few moments then abruptly, she opened them and asked aloud," Did you follow me here?"

Kiriko felt as if her heart stop for just a moment and then quietly stood up from her hiding place, reminding herself that Rubix had other priorities. Rubix turned around and watched as Kiriko walked a little bit closer to her, but still keeping some distance between the two of them.

"So Lilith has instructed you to search for the Princess?" Kiriko asked, with Rubix nodding slowly," Shouldn't that be her job?"

"It should, shouldn't it." Rubix responded, her voice toneless before she returned her attention to the view of the city behind her," There's many buildings, so many people, so much life, yet a lack of magic. Why is that?"

Kiriko looked tense in Rubix's presence, worried that she would strike at any moment while putting some thought into Rubix's words. Kiriko joined Rubix in looking out to the neighboring town and kept quiet. Rubix turned around to face Kiriko again and started walking towards her.

"Why has your world never had magic? How have your people survived all this time?" Rubix asked while Kiriko fished for her PlayPact in her back pocket," Your world never had a chance, did it?"

Kiriko shook her head as she said," That isn't true, we've had to evolve and learn all different things about the earth in order to get where we are today. We-"

Rubix then shut Kiriko into a translucent blue and pink square, saying,"-Perhaps the kingdom was privileged with its magic. But, the kingdom is corrupt, and that wasn't even Asperity's doing. I'm sure even the Princess knew something wasn't right with the Laruan Kingdom."

Rubix then quickly made the box disappear and let Kiriko free, but Kiriko didn't seem as calm as before, only irritated.

"It was you guys who made the kingdom fall apart, Lilith was the one to try to hurt the kingdom, so just why do you wanna pin the blame on the kingdom? They didn't do anything wrong." Kiriko said to her, her patience wearing thin.

Rubix offered her a look, one that Kiriko had a hard time reading while Rubix said," You're awfully trustworthy of them, what have they done to deserve it?"

Kiriko narrowed her eyes to Rubix as she continued to speak," You should be more skeptic of the world around you. You do seem smart but yet, you act carelessly. And to make matters worse, you've not only gotten yourself tangled into this ordeal, but you've dragged a whole team into it too."

Rubix walked closer towards her, only a few inches away and said," You shouldn't be speaking for a kingdom that you don't belong to. Especially one you know nothing about."

Rubix then waved her hand in front of Kiriko and returned to the front of the salon. Kiriko took a few deep breaths before looking inside of the salon to see if Kozue was still around. Kozue wasn't there, but in her place was a set of missed calls from her on Kiriko's phone. The sight of list filled with Kozue's name on her call log made her heart want to start racing, moments before she received another call. But, it wasn't from Kozue.

"Hey, do you have some time to come over for a bit?" The person on the other line said," I've got something important that I need to talk about."

"Um...sure, ok. I'll be there soon, just let me tell my sister where I'm going. I'll see you then, ok?" Kiriko told them moments before the call ended. Kiriko held her phone tightly and shook her head, thinking about her encounter with Rubix.

"Who am I to believe?" Kiriko thought to herself as she took out her PlayPact and stared into it, a vacant look in her eye.


	26. Doubtful Dolly pt 2

Kiriko had just stepped off of the bus, into a neighborhood she seldom visited. It was about a half hour away from her own house by foot and fairly quiet with a minimum of people crossing her path. Kiriko walked straight to the house she needed to go to intently, not wanting to come across any distractions whatsoever. Kiriko looked around the neighborhood one more time before she took out her phone and looked at a set of texts she had sent on the bus. She fought to have this conversation over the phone, since she knew she made Kozue worried sick and the last thing she wanted to do was make things worse. But, they were insistent, unrelenting and told Kiriko that this couldn't even be risked talking through the phone. The thought of such precautions made Kiriko rolled her eyes, what was she going to hear that had to be kept so secretly? Still, she respected her friend's wishes and walked to their house.

When Kiriko arrived at the house, she knocked on the door impatiently and only had to wait a few moments before the door swung open. Standing in the doorway was Hayase.

"Hey." He greeted neutrally as he ushered her inside. Kiriko smiled to him and marched straight into his living room, where the two of them took a seat on opposite ends of the longest couch in the room. Kiriko took out her phone and opened up the memo pad app, awaiting for Hayase's explanation, his big reveal that most likely had to do with student council.

Hayase noticed Kiriko looking at him readily, her thumbs raring to go for whatever he had planned for the school, but he only smiled and sighed before shaking his head and gesturing at Kiriko to put her phone away.

"This isn't about student council." He informed her, looking at her dead in the eyes before his gaze quickly retreated to his lap," I know about...your Pretty Cure duties."

Kiriko's eyes shrunk to pinpricks, her mouth agape as she tried to form some kind of excuse, an elaborate lie to make him think otherwise. But no words came to her mind, and the look in Hayase's eyes told her that he didn't have any doubts of his claim, so there wasn't much use in trying.

Kiriko then exhaled a sigh, placing her hand behind her head as she said sheepishly," I guess we didn't do a good job in keeping our identities a secret, huh?"

But then, another thought came to Kiriko, something that made her instantly feel suspicious as she asked in a casual voice," To figure out my alter ego is one thing, but to know I'm a Pretty Cure...how did you arrive to that conclusion?"

Hayase forced a laugh, saying," I was going to get to that. See, my parents are from the Laruan Kingdom. So, I know all about this Pretty Cure stuff and I know about Cure Cheer too. Which is actually what I wanted to talk about. As your friend, I can't let you continue doing this. You need to quit your role as Pretty Cure."

Kiriko couldn't believe her ears, only sputtering out," Are you insane? We can't do that! If we don't fight against Asperity, then who will? The kingdom will face a hundred percent rate of defeat if we abandon them at this point. Lilith has almost everything she needs to overthrow the kingdom, we can't give in so easily! Do you think Cure Cheer was so quick to call it quits?"

"No, but she should've been." Hayase stated, though Kiriko didn't seem to be following," You're not thinking straight when it comes to this Pretty Cure stuff. You're so set on winning that you aren't even considering the other possibilities, like what might happen in the case things don't go your way. Just like what happened to Cure Cheer."

Kiriko shook her head, taking a stand as she said," This is your parents' kingdom we're talking about, don't you care at all about what happens to it?"

"It's not that I don't care, it's just...I don't want to lose one of my best friends. Cure Cheer thought she had no other choice but to fight, and that led her to her death. She probably had friends and a family that had to suffer from losing her and, I don't want the two of you to share the same fate. Yeah, she saved the kingdom, but she had to exchange her life for that. You're one of the most talented people I know, it'd be unfair to watch you throw it all away." Hayase explained to her, trying his hardest to keep his tone calm.

Kiriko sat back down, keeping her gaze away from Hayase as she shook her head and said," This is my choice and mine alone. I understand your concern, really, but...I'm not going to just back down, knowing I can do something and fix things. Yeah, I may not matter to this kingdom and I may not make it out in one piece but...I can't just stop and do nothing. I feel like that's all I ever done, and I'm sick of it."

"So that's your final answer." Hayase said plainly, his gaze failing to meet Kiriko's as he started thinking to himself," I was so sure that with some logic, some rationality, you'd reconsider. This is really unlike you, I should've prepared more for this. But, I guess it's nice seeing you so determined and driven about something. I'll admit, it almost seems out of character, maybe even a bit ironic for you to get so passionate over a kingdom of toys."

"Yeah, I guess so." Kiriko answered with a chuckle," But, I like doing this. Despite the fact that I was practically forced into it, it's been making me feel and see things differently, and I don't think I would've been able to become the person I'm turning into without Pretty Cure. I'm sorry for wasting your time Hayase, really, but...you can't change my mind. My team and I are set on ending things with Asperity."

Hayase didn't say anything and only smiled a pained smile while Kiriko collected herself and said," It's getting kind of late, I should be on my way. I'll see you at school on Monday, alright?"

"Yeah, take care." Hayase said while Kiriko headed out.

Once Kiriko exited the house, she took a deep sigh and said to herself," This is no good. If he knows about the fact that I'm a Pretty Cure, does that means he knows the identities of the others? I hope he won't try to convince the girls. If I'm lucky, he'll assume I speak for the team."

Kiriko walked to the bus stop and started to think more about how she must've worried Kozue when she went after Rubix. She shook her head, knowing that she probably should've gone to see Kozue so her sister knew that she was ok. Thinking about it now, that might have been the closest she'd been to exposing her Pretty Cure secret. Kiriko had a feeling she was going to be met with a flood of questions from her sister the moment she got home, so Kiriko figured now would be a good time to create out some answers.

She rested her fist against her cheek and watched as cloud started to form above her. It appeared as if it was going to rain soon, and unfortunately for Kiriko, she didn't have an umbrella on her.

Just then, a thought came to her. What if Kozue already knew? She had been sure Hayase had no idea and yet he knew everything, and it's not like they fought in secluded areas, there was a chance that someone may have seen them, captured a photo of them and Kozue had seen it, but chose not to confront Kiriko about it. For a second, Kiriko felt as if she was over thinking, but once she remembered how Hayase knew and completely caught her off-guard, she felt as if she wasn't thinking enough.

"Just what do I do?" Kiriko asked herself softly before she heard footsteps coming down the road. Instinctively, she looked up and found none other than Asuna walking down the road, her headphones in and a red umbrella in her hands. She waved to Kiriko and walked over towards her, taking note of the distressed expression on her face.

"Are you still thinking about what happened earlier today?" Asuna asked as she took her headphones off and leaned against the walls of the bus shelter.

Kiriko looked at her warily and took some time before responding, saying only," Do you wonder if our friends have caught on? Or, have been worrying over us?"

"What?" Asuna asked plainly before she actually put some thought into Kiriko's question," Well, my friends know Pretty Cure exist but...I don't think they have any clue that its us, nor do they have any concern over the safety of the Pretty Cure. Why do you ask?"

 _"Because somebody already knows."_ Kiriko thought to herself, but she couldn't bring herself to tell Asuna. She looked up to Asuna and played things off casually and said,

"Well, I don't know, we've been parading around town like this for months, I think we should be anticipating some kinda rumors going around about us."

Asuna narrowed her eyes at Kiriko and replied," Yeah, I guess that's true. Have your parents questioned you about it?"

"Ah, no. They wouldn't have the time to be bothered about rumors of some girls in frilly dresses beating up monsters around town." Kiriko said as she waved her hand in dismissal," Their work's much more important to them anyways."

Asuna nodded and then took a seat next to Kiriko, just to keep her company as she waited for the bus. Some of the clouds parted but then it started to downpour quickly. Kiriko watched the rain splatter against the sidewalk, while Asuna looked up at the sun that peeked its way through some of the clouds.

"What would you do if they found out?" Asuna asked, her gaze still on the sun trying to part from the clouds.

Kiriko looked down at her lap, not even the slightest bit surprised by Asuna's question since her parents had been on her mind too. Kiriko looked over in the direction where the bus was supposed to come from, her fist resting against her cheek.

"I'm not sure." Kiriko answered with a sigh," I think I'd try to lie about it, cover it up some way to make sure their suspicions were gone."

Asuna nodded, staying quiet while the two of them continued to watch the rain pour. Kiriko saw the bus coming down the road and just before she went outside of the bus shelter, Asuna poked her with the umbrella and motioned her to take it.

"If that time ever comes...I'll do my best to try and help you, ok?" Asuna declared as she held out the umbrella. Kiriko looked down at the umbrella and thought it suspicious of Asuna to give it away when the bus was right here. But, she would have to walk about ten minutes to her house after she got off the bus. So, Kiriko gingerly took the umbrella and smiled to her before she got on the bus.

As Kiriko sat on the bus, she looked out the window and thought about something that had happened to her when she was little.

Kiriko loved playing with her dolls as a little girl, always seen with a pair of dolls in her hands. Her dolls were quite fancier than others too and they all donned very high-quality dresses and had long hair. Kiriko was also a very imaginative child and she loved making stories for her dolls.

When Kiriko got home, she was met by her entire household waiting in the living room for her. Kiriko was startled by the sight, jumping slightly when her eyes met the three of them sitting in the living room. That was three more figures than she was used to. Kiriko waved to them awkwardly, taking note of the unpleasant looks her parents had, while Kozue's gaze refused to meet hers. She walked into the living room, sporting an obviously forced grin and sat herself down on the chair right in front of them.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting for too long." Kiriko stated, trying her best to keep her tone calm as the smile from her face was dropped," I didn't mean to worry you all the way I did tonight, but I'm home now and that's all that matters, right?"

They all stayed quiet, so Kiriko took it as her cue to leave.

Kiriko stood up from her seat as she said, "Well, if you'll excuse me, I-"

"Kiriko, stay in your seat." Her mother demanded as she took a stand and looked at Kozue with discern before setting her gaze on Kiriko.

"Kozue was a frantic mess the second she got home, but she tried to hide it and say you just went to see a friend. That wasn't what really happened, was it?" Kiriko's mother questioned.

Kiriko's face flushed red and she stammered out," W-well, not entirely, but you see the reason that happened was-"

"Kiriko, you're a smart girl. You should have known better than to go out with Kozue." Kiriko's mother chided bitterly as she turned to face Kozue," You haven't even been home for a whole twenty-four hours and already you're causing trouble! How negligent are you to leave your sister out and just go home without her? Think about what would've happened if she got hurt! For goodness' sakes, the last thing I need is for her to adopt your reckless habits and lifestyle."

Kozue looked down at the ground, her eyes looking glassy as she drew out a deep sigh as she muttered to herself," You know, that wouldn't be so bad."

She then balled her fists and took a deep breath as she stood up and said," You know, Kiriko doesn't have to be conditioned and treated like some prodigy. Yes, she is a smart girl, but she can make her own decisions and guess what? It doesn't make her "reckless" or anything like that for doing so! I know you guys aren't the slightest bit approving of what I do but that doesn't mean this gives you the right to force Kiriko into a career or anything. She'll do what's best for her."

The room fell awfully quiet, it was unsettling after all the shouting that just occurred. Nobody said a word for a few long moments until Kiriko said,

"I'm going to my room."

Kiriko walked up to her bedroom slowly, to keep her pounding headache from getting worse. Her head was spinning, and she had no clue what to place her focus on, her Pretty Cure concerns or her dispute with her family. Once Kiriko entered her bedroom, she quietly walked over to her bed and just took a seat and the foot of it, something which confused Rani and instantly made her worry. Rani had grown accustomed to watching Kiriko crash onto her bed that anything deviating from that meant trouble to her.

Rani went to Kiriko's side and sat next to her and asked," Is there anything I can do?"

Kiriko was quiet, too lost in her thoughts to provide Rani with a response.

"Why must my parents be so mean to Kozue?" Kiriko asked aloud, though she didn't appear to be directing the question at Rani," She wasn't at fault for what happened earlier and besides, she did try everything she could to find me."

Kiriko then reached for her pillow and hugged it tight, as she said," Actually, it's been like this for awhile now, hasn't it? My sister gets chided for everything she does or fails to do, all because mom and dad just see her as careless. But that really isn't the case. Kozue said I'll do what's best for me, but...how can I be sure I'm doing just that?"

Rani went to go get a book sitting at the side table next to Kiriko bed while Kiriko continued to speak.

"I know people think I'm very sure of all the decisions I make but to be honest, I feel the exact opposite. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, I let outside forces influence my decisions, I don't like being in control because I get scared of letting everyone down. How is Kozue so sure I'll do what's best for me?"

Kiriko looked down into her lap as she tossed the pillow onto the floor. All kinds of thoughts were swarming through her head and she just couldn't take a moment to reset herself. At least not until Rani held out a book towards her.

"I understand you're under a lot of stress right now, so maybe doing something to cheer yourself up might help." Rani suggested as she handed Kiriko the book. Kiriko looked at the picture book with a nostalgic smile on her face. The cover of the book had originally been covered with sparkles but a good chunk of them had flaked off over time. The pages were no longer the bright white that they used to be and the book had long lost its new book smell, but Kiriko didn't seem to mind.

The book was titled "The Doll's secret life" and had a very large hard cover with pastel colours on it. Rani had yet to see Kiriko touch the book and only saw it laying on her side table for the past couple of days. Kiriko motioned Rani to sit next to her so they could read the story together.

"Not everything is what it seems and life for this sweet little doll isn't any exception..." Kiriko read aloud while Rani looked at the pictures on the page.

"What does she do?" Rani asked as she leaned in closer, eager to find out more about the doll.

"You'll see." Kiriko informed as she flipped over the page.

Rani did indeed get to learn more about the doll, while Kiriko read the story out loud. The doll, never given a name in the tale, was strong and studious, working very hard when nightfall came. In the story, her owner was having issues with her studies, so the doll decides to learn the material she's been given to help her learn. But, the girl can never find out that the doll is alive so she must do it in secret. On the morning of a big test, the owner wakes up to find a giant study sheet on her table to help her comprehend the subjects on the test, but never finds out who made it for her.

"Wow, I really liked that story! The doll in the story reminds me a lot of you Kiriko!" Rani remarked while Kiriko closed the book, who only shrugged in response.

"I guess, but, she has bright pink hair, and she's very outspoken. I personally don't think I'm like quite like her." Kiriko stated plainly before she looked at the name of the author on the book. Kiriko narrowed her eyes on it, wondering why she hadn't noticed it before and was about to point it out to Rani until she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in." Kiriko said quietly as she put the book at her side and looked over to the doorway.

Kozue walked in, giving Kiriko a stiff wave before she joined her in sitting on the bed. Kiriko smiled at her and Kozue did the same, though her smile felt a bit strained, which felt out of character for the easygoing Kozue.

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier." Kozue said, a large sigh escaping her lips while Kiriko was about to dismiss her apology, but Kozue wouldn't let her," I know you don't see it as a big deal because you're home safe but...I mean, come on, you saw how mad mom got and it wasn't just because they see me as irresponsible. They're relying on you to follow the path they made for you. They want you to end up just like them with a "perfect job", "perfect house", "perfect life" and well, I guess I just wanted to say is that, if that's what you really want, that's totally cool. But, if you feel like you're hesitating, like you're having doubts on if that's what you should do, then just know that it's ok if you stray from what they want. Yes, they want what's best for you but that doesn't mean that what they think is best will work out. A perfect life looks different to everyone, so...don't feel like there's only one choice, only one way to live the life that you have. There isn't. You just have to be brave enough to accept that and discover some stuff, about both the world around you, and yourself."

Kiriko fell quiet, unsure of what to say to her sister and only gave her a weak nod, though her gaze was fixated on her.

"Ah, I didn't mean to overwhelm you either!" Kozue said in her defense as she threw her arm over Kiriko's shoulder," I just...I want to see grow up happy and successful. I don't want you to feel as if you need to choose one over the other."

Kiriko smiled and rested her head on Kozue's shoulder and said," Thank you for watching over me and for your concern. I haven't been in the right head space these past few days, but I'm glad we had this talk. You notice more things than I do, I don't know what I'd do without you keeping your eye on me, even if you aren't always here."

Kozue laughed and patted Kiriko on the back, saying," Of course! That's what a big sister is for, right?"

The girls went to bed for the night soon after that, with both of them feeling a lot less tense than earlier.

Kiriko had work the next morning and had to wake up early for her shift as always. Everyone was still at home, but the only ones awake at this hour were Kiriko and Rani. As Kiriko pulled her work polo over her head, she thought only about the conversation she had last night with Kozue, knowing that brooding on the other events that occurred yesterday would've probably given her a headache to think about after just waking up. Today, she only wanted things to be light, simple and free from any arguments.

Kiriko collected her things into her bag and took a moment to watch the sunlight pour in through her windows.

 _"It'd be nice to just go a day without thinking of Pretty Cure stuff but, at this point, that's become hard to do with all the fighting we've done these last few weeks."_ Kiriko thought to herself," _All I can do is just hope for a quick, easy battle instead of no battle at all."_

When Kiriko walked out of her house, she didn't even get a chance to see Kozue as she was still asleep. She wanted to talk to her a little bit more, maybe even get her input on the dispute she and Hayase had last night, leaving out the Pretty Cure details of course. But it appeared it would have to wait until after her shift.

"Why didn't I see this coming?" Kiriko said to herself as she got on the bus," I guess it was only a matter of time until there'd be an overlap between Pretty Cure matters and my regular life. I have a city to protect but, at the same time..."

Kiriko looked up towards the mirror near the rear door of the bus, not able to find her reflection for a moment,"...I need to take some time and understand myself."

Back at Kiriko's house, Kiriko's mother, Konomi woke up earlier than usual, unable to sleep well last night. Konomi made herself a cup of coffee in the empty kitchen as she thought about yesterday's events. She felt less angered now that some time had passed, but she was still frustrated with Kozue. Her eyes traveled to the kitchen table and she noticed a lunch box sitting on top of it.

"Oh dear..." She said to herself as she put her cup down.

Soon enough Kiriko reached her stop, not even the slightest bit surprised that no one was in sight at this hour in the morning. It was peaceful, but being alone on the street gave Kiriko more to brood over her past choices over the last few months.

"I thought I had made progress with leaving cram school and putting my own interests first but...I'm not sure where I could've benefitted from that. If we're not counting more free time as a benefit. This is harder than I expected, I don't know what good I can do."

"I agree." A familiar voice said flatly from above her. Kiriko looked up in an instant, only to find Rubix standing atop of a street light. Kiriko didn't seem the slightest bit surprised, only a bit agitated, rubbing her eyes before taking a quick look around to see if any other people were present.

"You're awfully persistent, am I going to get an explanation as to why?" Kiriko asked as she narrowed her eyes at Rubix, reaching for something in her pocket. Rubix leaned in an inch towards her once she noticed Kiriko trying to take what she believed to be the PlayPact.

 _"I'll just end things by destroying that PlayPact to spare me the trouble of a fight with her!"_ Rubix thought to herself. Rubix then jumped towards her and Kiriko evaded her attack, revealing that she was taking out her phone instead.

"Asuna? Sorry to wake you up so early in the morning, but I've got trouble here at you can round up the other girls to help out too?" Kiriko asked just as Rubix darted towards her. Rubix knocked the phone out of her hands and Kiriko tried to grab for it, leaving her wide open. Rubix placed her hand in front of Kiriko and somehow pulled the PlayPact out of her pocket. Rubix held the PlayPact in her hands, an unusually familiar feeling welling up inside her as she grasped it. She clenched it tight and looked over to Kiriko.

"Now you can go back to your regular life, this was the only thing keeping from it." Rubix pointed out to her, as she dropped it onto the floor," I'm sure you have better things to do anyways."

Kiriko simply stared down Rubix, knowing she was partly right. Rubix took her silence as a form of agreement.

"Take a look, I can just end your Pretty Cure career quickly just like that-!" Rubix said, dropping her heel onto the PlayPact in mid-sentence. But, instead of the PlayPact breaking underneath her, the PlayPact emitted a ray of lilac light so strong, it pushed Rubix a few feet back and would've left her knocked off her feet if she hadn't been so quick to react.

"But, even if I've got better things to do, I know I'd only feel worse if my left my Pretty Cure duties behind. I'll have you know I absolutely hate leaving a task incomplete." Kiriko pointed out to her as she walked over to her PlayPact. She picked it up, a warm smile rising to her face as she held it close.

"And this is no exception." She stated as she held it up high," Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly introduced a split-second afterwards.

Rubix narrowed her eyes at Dolly while the blonde Cure dashed towards her. If Rubix thought she could sway the opinion of any member on their team, it was definitely Dolly. Not because she seemed foolish enough to trick, quite the opposite actually. Dolly was immensely smart, so of course she had to see the reason on why she shouldn't be fighting. But, it appeared Dolly was more headstrong than she let on.

Dolly went in full-speed ahead and flung a kick towards Rubix, who dodged by jumping up high joined her hands together, unleashing a blue and pink pair of cubes once her hands were separated. She launched them towards Dolly, who dodged the attack with ease but didn't realize the cubes had yet to disappear. The cubes followed her and just as Dolly tried to physically break them apart with a punch, the cube affixed itself around her hands as well as her legs and joined themselves together, leaving Dolly unable to fight.

"I don't care if you're still insistent on fighting, since it apparently doesn't change how well you fight." Rubix claimed as she stood closer towards Dolly before kneeling down towards her," I'm almost tempted to make a Defective from you."

"I'd sure like to see you try." Dolly said as she tried to break the cubes off from her wrists. Rubix then stood up straight again, looking for a victim to make a Defective out of. Just then, the two of them saw a car pull up into the parking lot next door and out came Konomi with the lunch box in hand.

"Hopefully her shift hasn't started just yet..." Konomi muttered to herself as she walked towards Echo.

"Perfect." Rubix said to herself as a large grin appeared on her face while she conjured up a tiny black diamond,"Go forth and corrupt her Patchwork Heart!"

The black diamond raced towards Konomi and merged itself with her Patchwork Heart without her realizing it.

"Stop! Please, please, please, not her!" Dolly begged, but Rubix didn't listen.

Rubix found a newspaper stand and had the diamond merge with the stand as she shouted," Do your worst, Defective!"

"Defective!" The defective bellowed before the two of them.

Just before Dolly had more time to process what just happened, the rest of her team arrived and ready for a fight.

Bubbly gave the Defective a quick head-to-toe examination, taking note that it seemed a bit smaller than what they were used to, but she definitely wasn't going to complain. She then turned her attention to Rubix and realized something important.

"Is this the first time we've fought a Defective with Rubix here?" She asked aloud before the Defective charged towards them.

Fantasy leapt up as high as she could to drill a kick into the Defective. Despite the fact that the Defective was small, it was indeed strong and couldn't be moved by a simple kick. Instead, Fantasy felt more impact from the kick than the Defective did and withdrew to Bubbly's side for a few moments.

"It would appear so," Fantasy responded as she kneeled down for a second," But, we can't let our guard down. If Rubix is strong enough to leave our whole team beat than think of what her Defectives can do!"

Teddy then darted towards the Defective and delivered a flaming punch right into it's core and said," She's right, plus we're down one member as of right now, so we don't have any time to waste!"

Teddy's punch did a good job against the Defective and even left a hole in the center of the Defective, leaving her feeling quite proud. But then, it appeared the Defective was repairing itself somehow as the hole was suddenly closing up. The Cures all looked at the hole in surprise, eyes opened wide with a curious look in them as they stared at the spot where the hole once was. They exchanged expression with each other, just to see if they all saw what they thought they saw.

"What happened to the hole you made?" Bubbly asked, though she already knew Teddy didn't have the answer.

"This is going to take a lot more work than I thought..." Teddy admitted as she drew out a sigh as dashed towards the Defective, with Fantasy and Bubbly following afterwards.

"I'm assuming you have a plan in mind." Fantasy said to Teddy as they continued to run to the Defective, with Teddy nodding in response as she sped up towards the Defective.

She leapt up and aimed for the same spot she hit before but instead, she didn't use a punch powered with flames and only punched normally. Fantasy flinched, expecting Teddy to feel pain identical to hers when she kicked the Defective, but instead, Teddy seemed to be ok. When Teddy was back on the ground, Fantasy looked at her suspiciously but Bubbly ran to her side, ready to praise her.

"Oh I see what you were trying to do!" Bubbly explained as she motioned Fantasy to join them," Once a spot on the Defective is repaired, it becomes more sensitive!"

Teddy nodded in response and the Cures huddled together closely, with Teddy saying," Ok, so what's gonna happen is I make the holes, you guys aim for those exact spots once they close up again."

Bubbly and Fantasy nodded in response and the Cures executed their plan.

The three of them were quick to attack the Defective, now that they were confident there was a way to defeat it. But, Rubix was just as quick to catch on to what they were doing, and made the decision to let them have their fun for now, only to take it away from them just when they least expected it.

Dolly writhed in the grip of the block on her wrist and looked over to Rubix who was standing right in front of her. As she fought with the blocks, Dolly noticed Rubix was fidgeting with her right hand, closing and opening it in a rhytmatic fashion. Rubix didn't seem like the type to fidget, so Dolly looked up and noticed that the door on the Defective's body was swinging open and gradually door the was opening more and more. Once the door on the Defective's body was fully opened, a mass of newspapers flew out and stuck each Cure onto a building, as if it were tape.

"It's not coming off!" Bubbly griped as she tried to tear off the newspaper with both her hands and even shooting water towards it.

Rubix looked quite pleased by the sight of all the Cures unable to move an inch and walked over to them, and took a long look at each Cure. Rubix closed her eyes and held her hands over her chest.

"It would appear playtime's over now." Rubix declared as she clasped her hands together," I hope you had as much fun as I did."

"Come on, you gotta get out of here, now!" Dolly whispered to herself as she tried break off the blocks. Dolly then decided to use her last resort and said quietly while stretching as much as she could,

"Pretty Cure, wishful cyclone!"

Her attack manage to hit Rubix square on her back, resulting in her getting blasted a few feet away. Dolly smiled, knowing that if Rubix saw it coming, her attack would've been a wasted effort. She felt lucky she hit a blind spot. As soon as Rubix was hit, Dolly noticed that her block cuffs weren't as strong as before so she clenched her fists and pull them away from each other and somehow, they broke off. Dolly then ran towards her fellow Cures in an instant but once she stood before them, she felt defeated again once she realized she didn't even have a plan to get them free.

"I have no clue what I can do..." Dolly thought to herself as a weary look appeared on her face, before a thought came to her," Hey that might work!"

She turned around to face the Defective and called out," Pretty Cure, pretend mode!"

She spread her hands far from each other and a wall of fire burned between them violently, she took a deep breath and pushed the flames forward to hit the Defective. Only, the attack didn't quite hit the Defective but rather, trapped it. The Defective was encased inside this flaming wall and the Defective tried to break down the wall through brute force. But every time it came in contact with the wall, a hole was made in it but this time, the holes weren't repairing themselves. The Defective wasn't sure of what to do and at this point, there was a giant collection of holes on it so it just stood there helplessly.

Fantasy looked over to Rubix who was holding her hand out closing it and opening again, as if she was trying to do something to the Defective. She looked down at her hand in disbelief, and then towards the Defective.

"It isn't working..." She said to herself, her voice filled with shock.

When the flame wall diminished, Dolly then preformed one last attack on the Defective.

"Pretty Cure, Wishing Tempest!"

A bright purple, pink and white windstorm emerged from out of nowhere and tossed the Defective up high into the sky and let it drop down with the grace of a wrecking ball. Once the Defective was back on the ground again, it couldn't move at all and Dolly made use of this opportunity to purify it.

She held her left hand up high and in her hand appeared her scepter. She took a deep breath and then held the scepter out in front of the Defective.

"Pretty Cure, Dressing Dolly Parade!" She yelled out as the atmosphere around her turned pink, violet and white. A mass of stars appeared and smothered the Defective to return it to its original form. The Defective was purified and reverted back into a regular outdoor newspaper box.

Once the Defective turned back to normal, the newspaper on the Cures disappeared and they were able to separate themselves from the buildings. Dolly motioned her teammates over to her and gave them a thumbs-up.

"Good job today ladies, you all did really well in this fight. I'm really proud of you all." Dolly praised as she held her hand over her heart," Especially you Teddy, today your fighting style was a bit different but just as effective. What exactly was your mindset during this fight?"

Teddy seemed a bit hesitant to answer but eventually she said," WWDD."

All the Cures eyed her with a confused look on their faces and so, Teddy exhaled a sigh and said," What would Dolly do. Basically, I've been trying something new lately. While I still like how I fight, I've come to understanding that it's not always going to be as effective as I wanted it to be and if I want to keep being a useful member, I need to expand on my fighting style. So, I thought about fighting the way you do and...it worked."

Dolly was at a loss of words and only smiled in response," I see. My fighting style...it's full of strategizing and thinking. I'm constantly trying to figure out the best method of action, I'm sorta like a machine in that sense, trying to uncover how to do things in the most efficient and effective ways possible. I'm glad you were able to make use of my fighting style today."

Later, when Kiriko got home, she sat in her room by herself with Rani asleep next to her. Kiriko laid on her bed silently before she started to speak aloud to herself.

"I finally get why I feel so hesitant and unsure of myself." Kiriko declared," Because my parents were so successful, I'm worried I'll never be able to reach the level success like they did nor meet their expectations. My standards on myself are so high, only because that's what they've expected from me this whole time. But...Kozue was onto something. Success should only be measured by my happiness and nothing else."


	27. Sew on, Sophie

The sun beamed down in the kingdom and the inhabitants were more than pleased to soak up the sun's rays. It seemed as if the sun had not crept out from the clouds in days now, and it hadn't taken long for the inhabitants of this particular village in the kingdom to start worrying. They soon fell under the belief that the lack of magic flowing through the kingdom had finally altered the climate here. But thankfully, they were proven wrong. At least, they were for now.

The village here was quaint and twice as brightly coloured than the rest of the kingdom. Some paths were made from a soft plush material and there was always lots of chatter and cheery individuals ambling down the streets. But, what made this village in particular unique from the rest of the kingdom was that everyone here was a plush toy.

All the plush toys here had a full Patchwork heart, but that was only because their owners had passed it on to them once they left this world. Everyone is met with the choice of either giving the rest of their Patchwork Heart to plush toy or they can keep they're half but this will leave the plush toy to become inanimate again. Some people are generous and give their Patchwork Hearts to their plush toy with the wish that their childhood friend may live on. However, most owners fail to realize what they put their plush toys through in bestowing the rest of their patchwork heart to them, while they move on to the next life and often don't consider how much the plush companion will miss them. Other people are sentimental up until their death and prefer to keep their half, in hopes that they'll enjoy the afterlife together.

A light green and yellow quilt plush mouse walked out of his home and retrieved a newspaper from his doorstep. He looked down at it and drew out a sigh before he glanced at his street to see if any of his neighbours were out enjoying the lovely day. To his delight, all his neighbours were taking advantage of this fine day but then, he noticed a large white horse playing at the fountain in the neighborhood. He felt himself tense up for a moment, he could recognize that horse anywhere. He then looked around the fountain and found a familiar green-haired individual standing behind the horse.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it Rudy?" Sterling said as his gaze met the mouse.

"I guess so, your majesty." Rudy answered, a warm smile appearing on his face though he didn't like how those words rolled off his tongue.

Rudy offered Sterling to come and have a cup of coffee in his home, but Sterling declined claiming that he wouldn't be able to stay very long. Rudy was suspicious, knowing that he couldn't be kept here long probably wasn't the only reason he had. Sterling would seldom visit these days and while Rudy was ok with that, he was also aware that when the king did visit, it was because he needed to get something off of his chest.

Sterling and Rudy sat against the ledge of the fountain, with Sterling wrapping his arms around his legs, putting himself in a pose that was quite odd for someone of his status. He looked very vulnerable and Rudy knew well that whatever can of worms he was about to open, it had been a long time coming for him.

"I don't want to be in the castle anymore. I can't stand to be there." Sterling confessed as he hung his head," It's not like I'm ever there anyways. I just leave searching for Arabella so I can-"

"-Run away from the truth?" Rudy interjected, though Sterling didn't chide him for interrupting or anything of the sort, which only meant the situation was worse than Rudy expected if Sterling opted for silence. Nothing had been said by Sterling for a few long moments.

"So I can be free and not be tied to a role that I wasn't supposed to have. I wouldn't have to do any of this if-" Sterling stopped himself, remembering he needed to choose his words with the utmost care in the presence of Rudy.

"It's fine, nothing you say will change the fact that Theo's gone." Rudy pointed out, trying to make light of the situation," I of all people should know that."

"I miss Theo so much, and not just because having him here would've meant I'd be free to live my life." Sterling confessed, finally lifting his head," Unlike me, Theo loved the idea of leading the kingdom. Being king meant everything to him."

Rudy nodded in response, while Sterling held his legs tighter as he said with full conviction," I could never be a good king, let alone a king as good as Theo. There are some things that won't happen in life. But...this is only the least of my problems."

Today, Sophie was at a dressing room for one of her friend's photo shoots. Sophie had to fight her friend not to take part in it today, claiming that she'd only be here for moral support and nothing more. From inside, Sophie wasn't able to see her friend get her pictures done, but she didn't mind since she knew her friend was on break right now. Sophie was trying on wigs that the company supplied her friend with and tried on some of them.

Sophie examined her reflection and paid close attention to the light brown and bouncy wig atop her head. She moved her head side to side a couple of times, unable to get over the bounciness of the short wig as she ran her hands through it.

"It even feels nice too..." Sophie as she shook her head.

"Sophie, we're going out to-" Sophie's friend said before she saw Sophie in the wig,"-lunch. That looks really good on you, you should wear it when we go out."

"No thanks, that might be a bit embarrassing, Nayumi." Sophie stated as she immediately pulled the wig off," You said we're going to lunch now? Sounds great~! Where are we off to?"

Nayumi forced a smile as she collected her things, pretending that she wasn't annoyed by how uninterested Sophie was in her appearance. It had been like this for weeks now. Weeks of Sophie shying away from cameras, from steering clear of any topic whatsoever that had to do with modeling. If this was anyone else, Nayumi wouldn't give them the time of day, she had better ways to spend her time. But because this was one of her closest modeling friends, who she knew damn well had a lot of potential, Nayumi wasn't up for forsaking Sophie and put up with puzzling new habits. Nayumi pushed her shoulder length blonde hair behind her and reached for her cell phone in her purse. She scrolled through her texts and was pleased to find a bunch of photographers that wanted to work with not only her, but Sophie too. Some photographers even expressed interests in shoots with only Sophie, but they made this subtle so they wouldn't offend Nayumi, though this wouldn't have bothered her. And these weren't just some random people she found online or met off the streets. These people she was in contact were top quality since Nayumi would only associate herself with the best of the best, hence why she was insistent on keeping Sophie around.

Nayumi was quick to make use of her opportunity and said to Sophie, "You've heard of that photographer Kitsuo right? So I got in contact with him this morning and-"

"-Sorry, I'm not interested, Nayumi." Sophie affirmed with a single shake of her head," Your manager told me what you've been up to and I'm sorry to say but, I'm still on my break."

Nayumi frowned and gave Sophie an uncertain look. It felt like it had been eons since Sophie had been interested in her career and the more time that passed, the more worried Nayumi became.

Sophie offered her a sympathetic smile as the two of them walked into the restaurant next door. Sophie let Nayumi take a step ahead before she asked her,

"You're unhappy with me, aren't you?"

That day, Sophie didn't go back to the shoot for Nayumi and they both agreed that she would've been better taking the rest of the day off to catch up on her studies and such. Hours later, Sophie could be found falling asleep on top of her science textbook and hunched over her desk. Just then, her phone rang and woke her up in an instant, leading her to clumsily answer the call. Sophie didn't even get a chance to check the caller ID before she answered the phone.

"Hello?" She asked cautiously into the phone.

"Girl, have you seen any of my texts? Or were you snoozing into your Chemistry homework?" Cho asked from the other side of the phone.

Sophie looked down at the floor in embarrassment and nervously mumbled into the phone," I wasn't doing that. Anyways, what did you text me about?"

"Remember how the school play was in need of a seamstress?" Cho asked her, with Sophie nodding in response.

"Oh, uh yeah." Sophie responded awkwardly, forgetting that she was on call.

"Well, the president of the Textiles club backed out because of irreconcilable differences or something like that. You know what this means?" Cho asked her expectantly.

"Cho, you know I'd love to but, I don't know if I should. I mean, I've never done anything like that, I just make dresses for my sisters and it's not like they're any good." Sophie admitted with a sigh escaping her lips," I wouldn't want to get their hopes up and make something awful for them."

Cho scoffed in response and commented with," Are you kidding me? The drama club would be lucky, no, it would be _an honor_ for them to have you as their seamstress. And not just because of your modeling work. You've been isolating yourself these days and I don't like seeing you so withdrawn. I know something's been up with you but...every time I ask about it, you deny it. I just wanna make sure everything's ok with you."

Sophie took the phone off from her ear for a moment and then looked at the phone screen with a guilty look in her eye. It had been bad enough that she had neglected some quality time with Cho due to all this Pretty Cure stuff, but now she had caught on to how she been feeling? Sophie always saw Cho's sharp intuition as both a blessing and curse since Cho would always be there for her and know how she had been feeling long before she told her but that also meant nothing could get past Cho. It was frustrating, especially when all she could do was give Cho only half the truth these days.

Though, Cho was onto something, even if Sophie didn't want to admit it. And of course, Sophie knew Cho wasn't trying to accuse her anything, all Cho wanted was to have her friend back to her normal self. So, Sophie pondered this idea for a few moments and then said,

"I can give it a try, but...I'll need a team." Sophie concluded before Cho gave an awfully loud cheer in response. Thankfully, Sophie had just the right people in mind for the job.

On Monday afternoon, Sophie assembled her Pretty Cure teammates in an empty classroom at Nagasaki high, along with Cho. Sophie stood confidently in front of her team with a large binder sitting on the desk in front of her. Sophie had yet to tell the girls about why she brought them here to her school, stating that it was going to be a surprise they would be sure to love. Once Sophie felt ready to begin, she closed the door to the classroom and said to the girls,

"So, I'm sure most of you are wondering exactly why I brought you all in today." Sophie began slowly," Well, let me paint you a picture. You're a high-school Drama club, known to have one of the best theatre arts programs in town, but suddenly, you have a dispute with the head of the Textiles club and now you don't have any costumes for your show! That's where we come in."

Sophie looked over to her little audience, excited to see how they'd react. The girls, except Cho, only offered her blank, confused stares in response. Sophie furrowed her brows, wondering if her short story did enough explaining. Kiriko then spoke up.

"We're gonna make costumes?" She asked, with Sophie nodding vigorously in response.

"Can't you just get the actors to get their own clothes from home? This is a rich kid school, I'm sure they've got something suitable for the play." Asuna pointed out flatly as she stretched out her arms.

"Nope, since this isn't just any play they're putting on." Sophie declared as she pulled out a paper from the binder," The play they're doing is...Romeo and Juliet!"

Cho gave an "ooh" sound just for fun while Asuna rolled her eyes. Sophie then opened up the binder and revealed stacks of photos printed out of Victorian fashion and little sketchbook of concept designs she had for the character of Juliet.

"Romeo and Juliet is a play of timeless fashion, set in Verona, Italy. These outfits are very elegant and nothing like the clothes we have today." Sophie explained as she motioned the girls over to join her in looking through the binder," We need to recapture this fashion for the play, otherwise it won't feel the same and it'll look like just a bunch of awkward high-schoolers spewing some clunky lines out on stage. Our job is to not only have them sound and act the part, but look the part too!"

"You're right! This sounds like a lot of fun Sophie, I have some basic sowing skills, so I hope that can be of help to you." Mari declared as she looked through the binder, with Sophie nodding in response.

"Great! Cho also going to help us with the sowing too." Sophie pointed out, with Cho waving to the girls," As for Asuna, I was thinking since you can draw, maybe you'd be able to help me with some of the designing?"

Asuna skimmed through the pages of the binder, narrowing her eyes at some of the questionable photos she saw, especially for the men's fashion. It seemed sorta challenging, but manageable if Sophie was also going to be designing with her. Admittedly, some of the dresses she saw were actually quite nice.

"I guess I can give it a shot..." Asuna answered, her gaze fixated on this one red ornate dress in the binder. Sophie cheered and threw her arms around Asuna, an accomplished feeling flowing through her after she just convinced the most skeptic person on her team. Sophie then looked up expectantly towards Kiriko.

"Um...unfortunately I don't have any sowing or design skills." Kiriko confessed awkwardly," But, maybe I can help with researching some of the most common fashion trends of the times to make the costumes feel even more authentic."

"Alright, that works! It'd probably be best if we started to work on that now, so maybe you could come with me to the library to research for a bit?" Sophie offered," After that, we can get to work right away. Oh yeah, I almost forgot!"

Sophie then flipped to one of the last pages in the binder, where a page full of measurements next to names of people were written, along with a large number written in red at the bottom. Sophie then pointed to the red number and explained the purpose of the page.

"This is our budget. Any money we spend we'll get back from the Drama club, granted we provide the receipts. Anything that goes over this will be out-of-pocket." Sophie declared as she looked up to her team for affirmation. The girls nodded in response and Sophie gave them a thumbs-up.

"Kiriko and I will start doing the research, if you guys want, you can go to the fabric store at strip mall down the road. I can't guarantee they'll have the best deals on fabrics, but you can get some ideas on what fabric we can use there." Sophie offered as she and Kiriko stood up from their seats. Sophie then led Kiriko out of the classroom to the library and waved goodbye to the girls.

"Ok, so shall we get going?" Mari asked as she stood up from her seat and looked over to the rest of her teammates.

Cho nodded and stood up from her seat, with Asuna following her lead. The three of them exited the room and Cho lead them to the fabric store Sophie was talking about. Mari took in the sights, not saying a word during their walk, while Asuna still seemed skeptic of this costume-making job. Asuna then drew out a sigh and asked Cho,

"Do you think they need to have these costumes?"

"Well, it's not a necessity. Not for them at least." Cho answered hesitantly as she kept on walking," I don't know if you girls noticed but...my best friend hasn't been herself lately. I don't know if it has something to do with her modeling or if something's going on at home...either way, she doesn't want to talk about it. But I didn't want this to continue."

"So I take it you're the one who told her about this seamstress position?" Mari chimed in, with Cho nodding in response," That's really thoughtful of you, I'm glad Sophie has someone like you looking out for her."

Cho shrugged and awkwardly chuckled while saying," I just want Sophie to feel like herself again. Not sure if you noticed but she's usually really energetic and upbeat. It would have to something really bad to change that."

Mari and Asuna exchanged looks, feeling almost guilty knowing what that "something really bad" was but also knowing that they weren't allowed to tell Cho about it. Cho didn't even take notice to their expressions, since they just reached the fabric store.

"This way!" Cho exclaimed as she pointed towards the store.

When Sophie and Kiriko stepped in the library, Kiriko was purely shocked to see that the library was much, much bigger than she expected. She had to take a moment to just look around and process the size of the library, filled with students and twice as many books.

"What? It's just a library, Kiriko." Sophie reminded her sheepishly as she led her to the computer tables, practically dragging her as Kiriko continued to take in her surroundings.

When Sophie found an empty pair of computers, she motioned Kiriko to take a seat. Kiriko finally recovered and looked at the screen before her with a blank stare on her face.

"Asuna was right, this really is a rich kid school." Kiriko remarked as she looked over to Sophie, who giggled in response.

"I guess? It's not like all the students here are rich though. Lots of them had scholarships, including Cho. Not to mention the entrance exam is really tough, so everyone here had to be pretty smart to get in." Sophie explained as she stared into the computer's loading screen.

Kiriko nodded in understanding, before the two of them fell silent as the computers loaded up.

So to fill up the awkward silence, Kiriko then casually asked,"So have you still had the time for modelling?"

Sophie looked a bit uncomfortable, gripping her skirt tightly as she said,"Well, I've been preoccupied so I've just steered clear of modelling for the last couple of weeks."

"Oh, busy with schoolwork and..."Kiriko then lowered her voice to a whisper and looked both ways before continuing,"..all of the pretty Cure stuff lately?"

"Um, yeah! Between those two I can't get a minute to myself."Sophie exasperated, hoping Kiriko would be easy enough to fool. Kiriko nodded in response and returned her focus to the researching. Sophie took a small sigh of relief, but instantly felt guilty for lying to Kiriko like that. Even if Kiriko probably wouldn't have understood what she was going through, she probably wouldn't mind listening, right? Sophie then awkwardly started speaking,

"The modeling thing has never been easy but, I've been doing it for a awhile."

 _I moved to Japan when I was eight, before living here, I spent my life living in Toronto, Canada. Things are definitely a lot different there, but in a good way. Both places are filled with many good things, and I'm sure things have only gotten better there since I left. We came to Japan because my dad got a job opportunity here and the rest was history. The move was sudden, but well worth it. I didn't get the chance to get into modelling in Canada, but that's where I developed interest in the whole modelling thing._

 _Models get to wear pretty clothes, they have people take pictures of them and best of all, they can inspire others, not just with their modeling work, but with their words! To me, being a model is much more than walking in an expensive dress on a runway, it's about empowering fellow girls and showing them what you're able to achieve anything when you put your mind to it. Models have an obligation to be a figure that people look up to and strive to be, not because of their looks and appearance, but because of their actions and feelings._

 _Often times, people think all models are victims of vanity and care only about themselves and how they look, but I've got a bunch of model friends who are nothing like that. The models I'm friends with however are very goal-oriented, they all know exactly what they want and exactly what to do to get it. They take all the steps they know they need to and some of them reach their goals, but others experience many setbacks._

 _Some of my friends don't sweat the small stuff and setbacks seldom bother them but there are also those who let their setbacks affect them deeply. An early retirement is almost always caused by doubt and over thinking paired with a negative response from family or friends. I've known a lot of people who ended up quitting just to make their parents happy because once they noticed they were experiencing a lull in their modeling work, they never failed to decide their child shouldn't be doing this anymore. I get that it wasn't out of anger, but love and concern though...their parents didn't understand what it was like for them. I might be lucky that my family have supported me through and through but sometimes, it makes me nervous that my family have so much trust in me._

 _"I want to reach my full potential, but I feel lost."_ Sophie thought to herself, _"I don't get a lot of people interested in working with me these days, but no one knows that. I think I too am experiencing a lull in my modeling career, but...I don't know what to do about it."_

"I haven't actually done any modeling work in months, but...it's only because I'm worried I'm losing focus of what I want, or rather...I'm not sure of what I want right now." Sophie confessed as she put her binder on the table and skimmed through the pages, "I feel bad because I'm not as focused as some of my other friends and well, I'm making them worry about me in the process. Every time I do something that isn't related to modeling, I feeling like I'm distracting myself, so I only feel worse in doing something different.

Kiriko almost asked her about how she felt in regards to making the school play costumes but kept quiet so she wouldn't ruin Sophie's excitement from the costume development.

"I know Cho only wanted to help out, and just like always, she's been a great help but...I can't help but feel a little bit guilty, like I'm running away." Sophie admitted as she slowly drew her hand away from the binder.

Kiriko stared at Sophie's binder for a few moments and then shook her head, a small smile rising to her face as she did so.

"It's ok to feel unsure, like something's might not go right. That's how you can tell how important it is to you." Kiriko explained as she took the binder off the table," But, another thing to take in consideration is that your life right shouldn't have to be centered around your future. You can enjoy other things and discover new hobbies, so don't feel like you have to be chained to your career. Besides, do you realize how much fun you were having when you were talking about the costumes? And it had to have taken a lot of dedication to make a whole binder as big as this!"

Kiriko held out the binder to Sophie, who only looked at it for a few moments before she took it back into her own hands. Sophie's eyes were filled with pride as she looked down at the binder, gripping it tightly while reminding herself of all the hard work she put into it so far. She had yet to even start making the costumes, but already there was so much effort put towards the project. It was clear to Sophie now, she wasn't running away, she just found another path that was all hers to take.

Sophie smiled to Kiriko and said," Maybe you're right, I've done nothing about worrying over what's to come to the point where I let that stop me from enjoying anything. I need stop thinking so much about what went wrong and do something to correct and change things. But first, we've got costumes to make!"

Cho, Asuna and Mari walked out of the fabric store, each with a pair of bags in their hands. Thankfully, they weren't too heavy, at least not for Cho and Mari. Asuna was a step behind the two of them, which was just the opposite of where she had been when they were entering the store, but the girls didn't seem to notice her struggling as Cho had explained what had been going on with Sophie.

"She was always pretty good at balancing her schoolwork and modeling, constantly making sure that no scheduled event would conflict with the other. But, mentally, I don't know if Sophie had been very set on modelling this whole time. Not only that, but because modelling has always been a high priority in her life, it's caused her to miss out on some stuff, like after-school clubs and culture fest. She said she didn't mind, but for her not to care about that stuff would be unlike her. It only makes her seem even more distant. Guess it doesn't help that she hasn't lived here all her life. Seems birds of a feather really do flock together."

Mari and Asuna stopped walking and eyed Cho curiously who said in response," I'm mixed, half-Japanese, half-Haitian. Anyways, Sophie hasn't really been given the chance, by both her schedule and some of our classmates, to make really close friends. And I don't know how you guys ended up in her life, but...I'm glad you did."

Mari smiled and then threw her arms around Cho saying," We wouldn't trade Sophie for anything in the world!"

"Is that so?" A voice asked from behind them. The three of them turned around and floating a couple of feet up in the sky was Rubix with a pair of red and orange transparent cubes beneath her feet.

"Now how the hell did she get all the way up there?" Cho asked while Rubix stared at the yards of fabric in her bag.

Rubix smiled to herself and held out her hands, revealing a black diamond between each of her fingers. She tossed them all up into the air and they joined into one large diamond. Mari and Asuna looked at the diamond nervously and Rubix relished in watching their expressions.

"Go forth and corrupt her Patchwork Heart!" Rubix commanded the diamond, which headed straight to Cho. The diamond affixed itself onto Cho's Patchwork Heart, corrupting it instantaneously and leaving Cho falling unconscious from what just happened.

"Cho!" Mari shouted as she caught her in her own arms," You people cause nothing but trouble, and for what?"

"I'll text Kiriko and Sophie to meet us here." Asuna offered with Mari nodding in response," In the meanwhile, let's get a head start."

Asuna and Mari retrieved their PlayPacts and shouted out in unison," Pretty Cure, it's playtime!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!" Teddy announced.

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!" Fantasy announced.

The two of them stood side by side as a Defective made from the yards of fabric in Cho's bag was created right in front of them. Fantasy and Teddy both took a defensive stance for a few moments as they eyed the Defective.

"I hope this won't hurt Sophie to see." Fantasy said before the two of them darted towards the Defective. Fantasy was just a step ahead of Teddy when she unexpectedly jumped up high into the air, higher than anyone anticipated and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Playground of Pretenders!"

The area around them changed form and it appeared as if they were all inside a genie's lamp of some sorts. Teddy, the Defective and Rubix all eyed their surroundings suspiciously, trying to determine a way out.

 _"Ah wait, now would be a great time to attack with them off-guard!"_ Teddy thought to herself before giving Fantasy a thumbs-up. Fantasy winked at her and Teddy raced towards the Defective, with a flaming set of spheres in each of her hands. Teddy held out her hands in front of the Defective, but the Defective grabbed her by the wrists and held her up to it's face.

Teddy rolled her eyes and said while directing her hands at the Defective," Heights aren't gonna stop me man."

The Defective was hit by the flaming spheres in Teddy's hands and let go of her without realizing it. Teddy landed on her feet and turned around to see if Fantasy saw her attack. But instead, what she saw was Rubix sneaking up on Fantasy without her teammate having any clue.

"Watch your back!" Teddy shouted, but she wasn't fast enough as Rubix wrapped her arm around Fantasy's neck. Out of pure surprise, Fantasy unwilling reversed the illusion and they returned to street in front of the fabric store.

"You still haven't learned have you?" Rubix asked as she let go of Fantasy," Your attacks won't ever work on the likes of me."

Fantasy felt her heart sink for a second before she heard a voice shout out,"Don't you have better things to do?!"

She and Teddy looked up to find Dolly and Bubbly standing a few feet behind them. Both of them wore matching furious looks on their face at the sight of Rubix and her Defective made from Cho. Dolly had just noticed Cho lying unconscious on the ground and wanted to distract Bubbly from it, but she already saw and immediately ran towards Cho, heedless of the danger on the way to her.

Bubbly kneeled towards her and instead of frantically shaking her or even calling out Cho's name, she only looked up to Rubix and said," You're a rotten woman! This is my best friend and you had no right to manipulate her into one of your Defectives!"

"I don't want to hear about _me_ being a rotten woman when _you're_ the one who couldn't even protect her." Rubix pointed out flatly, narrowing her eyes at Bubbly," You're getting mad at me when the only person to blame is yourself."

The team fell silent, not a single Cure was quite sure of what to respond with, except for Bubbly.

"We're to blame because of your doings? For all you've been causing from hurting our friends to wreaking havoc across town relentlessly? You seriously can't believe we're the ones at fault when you started all of this!" Bubbly shouted vehemently as she got up to her feet and took on a fighting stance," I don't like your attitude and how you treat others. You keep that up and you'll definitely regret it."

Rubix rolled her eyes and gestured the Defective to continue fighting against the Pretty Cure.

The Defective charged towards the Pretty Cure and lunged for Fantasy and Teddy. Both Cures dodged successfully and that left Dolly and Bubbly just enough time to attack it while it was defenseless. Dolly jumped up just high enough to direct an attack right to it's face and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, cyclone of wishes!"

The Defective was hit with a gigantic violet whirlwind and was knocked back a few feet. The Defective seemed awfully agitated from the attack and then immediately swooped down to pick up Dolly and tossed her into Teddy, causing the pair to crash into a nearby building. Bubbly and Fantasy were about to rush of to their fallen teammates but then suddenly, the Defective pulled off a loose thread from itself and threw it towards Dolly and Teddy like a lasso. Dolly was just about to push Teddy out of the way, but the lasso of thread got bigger and tied the two of them together.

Bubbly bit her lip, she had a feeling that was going to happen but she wasn't sure of what to do so she only stood there helplessly. She then glanced over to Rubix, who had a smug look on her face. Rubix took a step forward and crossed her arms as the Defective waited her next order.

"You're down two members, I can't wait to see how you fare against this Defective without your two strongest teammates." Rubix remarked as the Defective ran towards them again. Bubbly looked down at the ground for a moment, holding back the need to sigh and retort with something uncalled for. She didn't need Rubix to tell her that her inability to strategize cost her the help of the team's strongest members. Nor did she need to be reminded that she wasn't one of them. Bubbly then squeezed her eyes shut for a moment in an attempt to calm herself down.

 _"You've outwitted an opponent before, you can do it again!"_ Bubbly reminded herself _," Besides, your friends are in danger, this is no time to feel bad about what's already been done!"_

Bubbly looked up and studied her opponent, paying close attention to it's physical attributes and what she could use to her advantage. The Defective was obviously very big, just like all the other ones. But, it had a weird loose thread mechanism that could tie people up. Bubbly examined the loose thread still attached on the Defective, wondering if she could use that very thread against it.

Once Bubbly thought of something, her eyes lit up and Fantasy noticed. She then stepped towards Bubbly and lowered her voice to a whisper as she said,

"Will you be needing my help?"

Bubbly nodded and quickly ran over her plan. Fantasy nodded in agreement and just then, the two of them started running towards the Defective. Once the two of them got close enough to the Defective, they jumped up simultaneously. Fantasy then held her hands up, revealing an iridescent light in the palms of both her hands. The Defective then tried to perform the same attack on her that it did to Dolly and Teddy but Bubbly grabbed a hold onto the Defective's thread and clung to it with all her might.

"Just because I'm not the strongest member on my team doesn't mean I'm not strong at all!" Bubbly reminded the Defective between clenched teeth as she swung the Defective into the opposite direction. The Defective's thread was then tangled into a lamp post on the street and fought to break free from it.

"Are you stupid? Just break the thread off!" Rubix reminded it impatiently. The Defective did as told and started to run towards the Pretty Cure again.

"Ready?" Bubbly asked Fantasy, who nodded in response.

"Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!" The two of them said in unison. The Defective was hit dead on with a tendril of water twice as strong than Bubbly usually made and was soaking wet moments after. The Defective became sluggish in it's movements now that it was fairly damp from head to toe. Fantasy was quite surprised to see that Bubbly's theory had been proven correct and not to mention effective, while Bubbly stood there in near disbelief of her actions.

 _"I really did all that. I'm not useless, I don't have to give in so easily."_ Bubbly thought to herself, before returning her attention to Fantasy," Let's get this over with!"

Fantasy nodded and parted ways with Bubbly to free Dolly and Teddy while Bubbly was left to purify the Defective.

"I don't have to doubt myself, I've got this!" Bubbly reassured her as she stood before the Defective, her eyes closed as she concentrated.

Bubbly freed her mind of all the distractions she had inhabiting it and slowly opened her eyes once more. She held out both of her hand up and appearing from nowhere was her blue, yellow and orange scepter falling directly into her hands.

"Pretty Cure, Brilliant Bubbling Carnival!" Bubbly shouted out as she twirled her scepter around like a baton. She tossed it up into the air and the atmosphere around her and the Defective turned a sparkling yellow and blue. A giant herd of rubber ducks zoomed in from nowhere and gathered around the Defective, each of them giving it a kiss upon contact with the Defective. Once the Defective was fully surrounded by the duck herd, it was purified and reverted to it's original form. The scepter came falling back down and Bubbly caught it.

She looked around to see what became of Rubix now that her Defective was gone, but she was nowhere to be found.

Bubbly blinked for a few moments curiously, looking at the scepter in her hands and then at only her hands. She squeezed her left hand tightly into a fist, thinking about how good it felt to have won in that battle and how she saw a different side of herself arise today.

 _"Only the strong survive." Porter declared sternly as he held his hand up towards her,"... And unfortunately, you're not one of them."_

"I proved him wrong."

A memory then crossed Bubbly's mind from when she was about ten years old, standing in front of some very tall modeling agency representatives.

 _"This girl wants to be a model? In a place like this?" One of the representatives jeered as they pointed at her._

"Proved them wrong them too."

Another memory then crossed her mind, from her first year in high-school, when she overheard her teacher talking to her mom at a parent-teacher meeting.

 _"She's too focused on this modeling business, at the rate she's going, she'll end up friendless at fifteen." Her teacher said quietly to her mother while Sophie was outside the class room._

"I sure proved her wrong."

 _"These days I've found myself getting intimidated too easily, I'm too scared of letting people get their 'I was right moments' so I just stopped trying. But, that's not fair for me, especially after how far I've come."_ Bubbly thought to herself _," The only way to prove them wrong and prove to myself of what I'm capable of is taking action and actually putting in the effort, otherwise I won't change a thing."_

The Cures all reversed their transformations and gathered towards Cho, waiting for her to come to. Kiriko, Asuna and Mari stood a few feet away while Sophie sat next to her patiently.

"What happened?" Sophie heard finally say in a rather tired voice as Cho slowly sat herself upright. Sophie instantly turned to Cho and sighed a breath of relief, throwing her arms around Cho, but not saying a word.

The absence of a frantic jumble of words from Sophie was jarring for Cho, so awkwardly she said," What, no 'Cho my goodness what happened to you?' or anything?"

Sophie didn't say anything except," Thank you. Thank you so much for all you've been doing. I'm sorry I didn't notice how considerate you've been all this time."

Cho was taken aback, unsure of exactly how to respond and relaxed herself, returning Sophie's hug and saying," Don't worry about it."

Sophie broke the hug and said," I wanna try new things and still get back into modeling. I wanna stop thinking about what could go wrong and get excited over what could go right!"

Rubix returned to Asperity, and leaned against the wall in a room all by herself.

"I wonder what it's like to chained to a role like being a Pretty Cure." Rubix asked aloud to no one in particular, holding her head tensely," Aren't these girls miserable, aren't they dejected and ready to give in? I don't understand."

"Yo, where have you been all afternoon?" Bounce asked as she walked into the room," Weren't you supposed to be getting some fine tuning from mom?"

Rubix narrowed her eyes at her, and didn't even give a response.

"You were out hunting down the Pretty Cure again weren't you?" Bounce asked, walking towards Rubix, who was walking away from her," Your Defectives are too weak, stop going on your own like that!"

Rubix kept walking away, completely trying to tune out Bounce now.

Bounce's patience was wearing thin, so she tried grabbing a hold of Rubix's arm while saying "Listen when I'm talking to-!"

Rubix grasped Bounce's arm very tightly, to the point where Bounce feared she was going to break it as the older woman said," I'll do as I please and there's nothing you can do about it"

Rubix let go of her arm and walked on ahead. Bounce gasped out once Rubix let go of her arm and held it tenderly with her other hand.

"I guess she's still got it." Bounce remarked flatly as she watched Rubix leave.


	28. Mari's Meltdown

_Snap!_

The somewhat large, expensive camera flashed and immediately a picture was taken of the girl standing a few feet away from it. She was beautiful, her skin was sun-kissed, her lips painted red and her hair a lovely shade of auburn. Her smile was so bright and full of life, she was a great subject to photograph. She smiled again and played with the ends of her dress that came to knees, bunching it into her hands as she stood ready for the next picture.

Mari smiled as she looked down at the picture she took of her subject, Shinobu. Easily one of the best shots she taken this afternoon with her, but she had a feeling Shinobu could also take much better photos too.

Shinobu was trying out different poses in the meanwhile, before she noticed that Mari appeared to be zoning out. Shinobu then waved her hand to Mari to get her attention and idly called out,

"Everything ok, Mari?"

Mari jumped slightly, it was a good thing she had the camera slung around her neck otherwise it would've dropped out of her hands. Mari nodded attentively and resumed her photo shoot with Shinobu.

 _"Shinobu Akagawa, a girl who wants to get into modelling after she's done with high school. She's cheerful, extremely photogenic and kind to a fault. Shinobu will definitely get people's attention, but it's good portfolio shots that will set her apart from the rest."_ Mari thought to herself as she took another picture of Shinobu. Shinobu was one of the first people who Mari had photographed ever since she had slowly transitioned to taking photos of people rather than plants and objects. The thought of it had originally been a bit intimidating to her, but Mari knew she had to get around to it eventually. As of now, Mari had only shot photos of close friends, clubmates and family but a few days ago, Shinobu contacted her personally, asking if she was interested in shooting with her. Mari was slightly hesitant at first, but Shinobu was so sweet, and not to mention unbelievably pretty.

 _"I can sense it, even if it's weak, it's certainly there."_ Mari thought to herself as she took pictures of Shinobu _," She's got magic running through her veins."_

It wasn't all that surprising, not was it uncommon. These days, Mari felt her ability to sense magic growing stronger and stronger. It was nice in some ways, but frustrating in others. Some people had maybe a singular spark of magic in them, easy to miss. Those were the ones that Mari felt some pride in sensing since they were so obscure. The ones that stood out to her made her feel nervous.

 _"I guess with becoming a Pretty Cure, it's becoming easier to notice magic. There's traces of Laruan kingdom magic all around. Some of it is weak, other sources are very strong. My mom once told me that people from the kingdom have been migrating to the human world for centuries now, it's only as of recently that more people have migrated in larger masses. Apparently, it's not because there is anything wrong with living in the kingdom..."_

Mari snapped another photo, this one was of Shinobu sitting next to the flowerbed in the school courtyard.

 _"...They just wanted to explore and discover new things."_ Mari thought to herself as she looked at the photo she just took _," It's likely that Shinobu's ancestors were from the kingdom but their stories were lost to time, so she may have no clue."_

Mari looked down at her watch and noticed it was getting late. She looked over to the sun setting and wondered if it would've been best to keep taking some photos, especially since these golden hour shots were becoming a trend. She then noticed Shinobu was yawning and she smiled to herself, not surprised that Shinobu looked good even when she was tired.

She then called out to Shinobu and said," Would you like to wrap up for today?"

Shinobu jumped slightly and said in an unconvingly tone of reassurance," We don't have to! I mean...I could go for a few more shots."

"It's fine, it's getting a little chilly anyways." Mari pointed out to her," We can take some more photos tomorrow. How about we go get something to eat instead?"

"Alright, sounds good." Shinobu responded as she stood up and walked over to Mari, who had stood next to her bag," I'll get changed and I can show you this really great restaurant I found last week. I'm treating you, ok?"

"Are you sure? I really don't mind paying for myself." Mari said awkwardly, her face flushing red as they started to walk to the school.

Shinobu was insistent and responded with, "Think of it as my way of saying thank you. You've been really fun to work with and I know all those photos we took today will be great for my portfolio!"

Mari nodded and Shinobu walked towards the washroom to change while Mari waited by the school doors.

"It's girls like her that make me wonder...was I the best choice for the final Pretty Cure?" Mari said to herself quietly.

These last few months had been exhilariting, life-changing, maybe even euphoric, but... there had been so many times since Mari became a Pretty Cure that made her question her position and if she deserved it. Especially when she seemed unable to go a day without feeling a strong sense of magic from someone who wasn't a Pretty Cure and just a regular person.

"This world is enchanting and filled with mystery. It feels nice that it's not just the Pretty Cure with magic flowing within them but...wouldn't that have made them also suited to be Pretty Cure?" Mari asked aloud before Shinobu exited the washroom, now in her uniform. Mari smiled at her, she almost forgot why she had been thinking so much about magic appearing on Earth in the first place. Shinobu walked ahead of her and Mari continued to think about her role as a Pretty Cure.

The two of them walked for about fifteen minutes once they left the school and reached the restaurant that Shinobu was talking about. It was fairly large, but thankfully it wasn't too crowded at this time of day, but chances are it'd start to pick up within the next hour. Strangely enough, Mari saw a few students from both her school and other schools dining here at the restaurant. Most kids here age would've chose Cafe Rosewood or some other less expensive looking place. While Mari and Shinobu waited for a server to take them to a table, Mari watched the other students at their tables, studying, laughing and gossiping amongst each other. They all looked like they so happy to be in each other's company and it made Mari wonder what it would be like if she was their friend.

When Shinobu and Mari had been escorted to a table and given their menus, Shinobu skimmed through her menu, already sure of what she was going to get and start to make small talk with Mari.

"So Mari, aside from photography, what else do you like to do in your free time?" Shinobu asked as she put down her menu and reached for her glass of water, holding it in both her hands.

"Um, well...I like cooking, and making jewellery, not much else to be honest." Mari replied with a forced laugh while she put her menu down. Shinobu frowned a little, with an inquisitive expression on her face. It was obvious to Mari that her response wasn't satisfactory to Shinobu and it made it look like she was holding out on something. In truth, that really was all Mari did. She had old hobbies she enjoyed but she found that when you were the only one to enjoy it with, it wasn't as fun.

"When I was younger, I did theatre." Mari confessed with a nostalgic smile on her face as her eyes trailed to the table top," I wasn't the best actress but...I had a lot of fun. Acting came naturally to me."

"Oooh that's awesome!" Shinobu remarked excitedly," What made you start acting?"

 _Mari was hopping from one chair to the next in the Miyazono family's livingroom, completely heedless of where she was heading and what could happen. She barely landed on the farthest chair in the livingroom, panting out her breaths before she jumped off the chair she just got on and shouted victoriously,_

 _"Bad guys beware, for I, Cure Cheer, am here!"_

 _Mari's mother then walked, more like raced, into the living room as soon as she heard Mari say that name. As soon as she saw that distressed look on her mom's face, the one where Satomi was flushed red and resembled a tomato, Mari bursted out into laughter and fell on the ground. Satomi then made a shushing motion and sat her daughter upright._

 _"Mari, remember, we can't have you playing Cure Cheer when Aunty Izumi and your cousins are here." Satomi reminded her as she smoothed out Mari's hair," They aren't allowed to know about the kingdom, or about Cure Cheer, ok?"_

 _Mari nodded and held back on pouting at her mother. She had been so exhausted this past morning with her cousins running around the house that the last thing she probably wanted was for her dad's side of the family to start hearing her prattle on about a magic kingdom of toys and a hero named Cure Cheer. They probably wouldn't have minded and would've just assumed Mari had an overly active imagination but Satomi wanted no one to hear about her home, not even once._

 _"Don't worry, as soon as they go home, you can play as Cure Cheer again." Satomi reassured her," But you are quite good at acting when playing pretend, perhaps you should try out theatre."_

"It was a bit of a short-lived career but it was fun while it lasted." Mari admitted as she took a sip from her glass of water _," It was probably only fun for me since I saw myself as boring. I had a hard time finding something interesting about myself, so to play a character like a hero or something meant everything to me."_

 _I've always felt plain and ordinary despite the fact that I had extraordinary things happening all around me. You would think a boring person like myself would've had a hard time keeping myself entertained, but it was quite the opposite. It was because of how boring I was that I was able to lose myself in make-believe and my imagination._

Shinobu ordered the two girls a vegan pizza to share, despite the fact that only one of them happened to be vegan. But, Mari still enjoyed the pizza regardless and let Shinobu prattle on about how she wanted to be a model and how she came to her decision. Mari listened intently, taking note of how Shinobu lit up when she spoke of her journey, if only Mari could've snapped a candid of her right now.

 _"People will always shine brighter with that distinct light in their eye when they talk about their passions. It feels surreal being in the presence of those with such strong passion."_ Mari thought to herself as Shinobu spoke.

"I've got so many models I look up to and aspire to be like, I like to think of them all as beautiful in their own unique way." Shinobu said, before an idea came to her," How about I show you some of my personal favourite models?"

"Um, sure." Mari said as Shinobu took out her phone and went to a photo album on her phone. Shinobu handed the phone to Mari so she could scroll through her list of models. All the girls Shinobu had selected were indeed quite pretty, it was easy to see why Shinobu had chosen them, But then, she reached the photo of one model and lingered on this girl's picture longer than the others. It was Sophie.

 _"Not only did living in my imagination stop my boredom, it was also having interesting friends that had dreams and ambitions so great, it made their presence magnetic."_ Mari thought to herself. Soon enough, the girls were finished their meal and soon went their separate ways home.

"We're still shooting tomorrow, right?" Shinobu asked, with Mari nodding in return," Awesome, I'll see you then!"

When Mari was in her room while getting ready for bed, she looked down at the three books she laid out in front of her, as a strained smile found its way to her face. She then slowly picked up the third book in the collection and looked at the page where Cure Cheer was introduced. Despite the fact that she didn't like drawing style used by the new illustrator in this book, she still enjoyed looking at this page and brooding over Cure Cheer.

"I wonder how different my life would've been if I had been born and raised in the kingdom." Mari said to herself as she set the book down," Would I have been as strong as Cure Cheer? I understand that I can't be her, but it would've been nice to at least live in the kingdom just like she did."

She put her books away on her side table, taking off her glasses and just staring at the ceiling as she said," In a way, I'm kinda like Earth. I'm not flashy or interesting, I'm average and easy to miss. It truly would've been nice to be a full-blooded member of the Laruan Kingdom." She mused as she closed her eyes.

The next morning, Mari woke up earlier than usual from a really good dream, though she couldn't remember what happened in it. She smiled and simply shrugged, assuming she probably remember it later in the day. Then she sat upright and looked at her reflection in her vanity mirror near to her bed. Mari's eyes opened wide, she double blinked a few times before she took her gaze away from the mirror and looked at her hair. She let out the loudest scream the Miyazono household had heard in a long time.

Mari's hair was now blue, green and yellow and had grown a bit overnight, now reaching her mid back instead of her shoulders. Mari shook her head, her breaths shorter as she ran her hands through her hair, trying to confirm whether or not it was her real hair. She prayed that it was just some wig or that this was a bad dream, but the hair felt like her own and it seemed she didn't need any waking up.

"Mari, is everything ok?" Mari's dad asked before he was about to open the door.

"Yeah, I just thought I saw a mouse! Turns out it was a scrunchie. Don't come in though, I'm changing!" Mari warned as started walking towards the bathroom she had within her bedroom.

Mari looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, standing as still as a statue and in disbelief of what she saw. She shook her head, her heart racing as she pressed her eyes shut. She placed her palms on the bathroom counter and leaned against it, not wanting to face her reflection again.

"I don't understand, I'm not supposed to be looking like this, I don't have any super special Laruan kingdom magic. I can only use my powers in Pretty Cure form anyways." Mari rambled aloud as she felt her head throb. This was unreal, it couldn't have been happening. After all these years Mari was sure, no, Mari was absolutely _positive_ that she would never get to have any perks that came with coming from the Laruan kingdom. No cool pastel hair, no magic, absolutely nothing of the sort.

"Well, maybe this is some Pretty Cure malfunction? I don't feel like I've got magic powers or something, so yeah. Maybe this has nothing at all to do with-"

"-Mari are you sure all you made all that ruckus over a hair tie? Because I think I saw a mouse creeping around the kitchen the other day so for all I know it could be the same one." Mari's dad suggested as he walked in carelessly, only making Mari's patience grow thinner. Mari balled her hands into fists and all of a sudden, the doorknob to her bathroom door went missing. Mari's eyes widened, her mouth agape as she tried to figure out how she just did that.

"Mari?" Her dad repeated as he looked around the bedroom," Guess she's getting ready."

Mari's dad didn't even notice the missing doorknob on her bathroom door and simply exited the room without another word. Mari took a deep breath, feeling relief and an unexpected sense of pride as she placed her hand over the spot where her door knob was supposed to be. It disappeared, not even the hole where you would insert the doorknob in could be found.

It finally happened, she finally had awakened her own magic without realizing it. Magic that she could use freely in her human form, that was hers and hers alone. But then, Mari looked at the clock hanging on the wall and she remembered how she had planned to meet with Shinobu at twelve today.

"Goddamn it!" She shouted, realizing she had no idea how to make the door knob reappear.

Hours later, Mari was on her way to the spot she had planned to meet with Shinobu wearing a large hat to hide her hair, only she arrived much earlier than they had scheduled to meet. Mari soon saw Kiriko, Asuna, and Sophie at the tables she told them to meet her at. She walked faster and the three of them looked at her expectantly. Rani and Nova were sitting on the top of the table, looking at her worriedly as she finally took off the hat.

Nobody had the same reaction as they saw Mari's hair; Kiriko was taken back, Asuna was impressed, the fairies were panicked and Sophie was only concerned for Mari. Sophie then held up a grocery bag with the things that Mari asked her to bring.

"Thanks a bunch Sophie." Mari said before she looked into the bag and removed a wig, eyeing it curiously," This...doesn't really look like my hair."

The wig may had been brown, but it wasn't the same shade as Mari's hair and it was pin-straight yet bouncy, curling inwards to frame the face not to mention shorter too.

Sophie reddened and her gaze fell to the ground as she awkwardly said," I know, but it was the closest thing I had, and I thought it'd look cute on you too."

Mari closed her eyes, and then said after taking a deep breath," It'll have to do. Thanks for helping though."

Asuna leaned against the table, scrutinizing Mari's wig as she said, "Kinda looks like Urarak-"

"When did this happen? Did your parents find out about it?" Kiriko asked as she stood up to help Mari out with placing the wig cap on.

"Overnight I guess. I woke up and all of a sudden my hair was blue, green and yellow." Mari said as she placed the wig on her head," My mom's out of town for a work conference and my dad didn't find out about it. So, I guess I'm safe for now?"

"We would seal away your magic, but doing so might also make you unable to transform into a Pretty Cure." Rani pointed out," But not taking any action here could become a greater risk than we realize."

"Should we stay for your shoot today? Just in case something goes wrong with your magic." Kiriko offered.

"If you don't mind." Mari said as Sophie handed her the wig brush," Wow this wig is soft. Anyways, Shinobu is coming at twelve and I doubt we'll be here for very long. If something weird is going on and I'm not noticing it, please cover for me."

"Define weird." Asuna requested flatly.

Mari then listed a few things off, and counted with her fingers, "Um, I guess anything that involves objects disappearing, or appearing from out of nowhere or-"

"How about objects floating?" Asuna asked her, causing Mari to look at her in question. Asuna then pointed to the wig brush, now brushing through Mari's wig. Mari yelped and firmly placed the brush on the table.

"Yes, especially objects floating." Mari pleaded with a heavy sigh.

Shinobu arrived around twelve, just as they planned, now wearing a pair of high-waisted indigo jeans and a pink cropped button-up shirt. Shinobu was as bright and cheerful as ever, and greeted Mari with a small hug and a giant smile. She even complimented Mari on her 'haircut'.

"It really suits you!" Shinobu gushed with a giggle, though Mari wanted stray away from the topic.

Mari and Shinobu began their photo shoot while Kiriko, Sophie and Asuna were sitting behind a set of trees nearby. Kiriko was working on homework, Asuna was playing a video game on the Switch she brought with her and Sophie just kept a close eye on Mari.

As Kiriko worked on her homework, she started asking Rani and Nova some questions regarding Mari and her overnight transformation since the whole thing didn't make all that much sense to her, even if she was a Pretty Cure.

"Mari's experiencing these changes because she's a half-descendant from the kingdom right?" Kiriko questioned with Rani nodding in response," So, does this mean that every member of the kingdom had to go through this stage of stabilizing their magic?"

"They didn't." Nova asked plainly," Mari's a special case. She's been raised in an environment with a sharp deficiency in magic, so it would've been harder for her powers to emerge in a place like this. She probably had a great amount of magic hidden away within her that we couldn't even sense, so for it to appear from seemingly out of nowhere has to come with some drawbacks. But, it's not like every member of the kingdom is adept with magic, far from it actually."

"So, do you think her magic's gotten this strong because of her becoming a Pretty Cure?" Asuna asked as the girls quickly inspected Mari.

"It's likely." Rani answered, as they watched her take photos of Shinobu. This session was taking longer than expected since both Mari and Shinobu kept getting new ideas for different shots and relocating around the school, resulting in the girls to continue following them closely, but remaining unseen.

"Why is she even taking photos of this girl again?" Asuna asked, lying flat on her stomach behind a bush alongside Sophie and Kiriko.

Kiriko was crammed in the middle, not even looking up from her homework as she replied with," I heard Shinobu's making a modeling portfolio, so she wanted as many good photos as she could get."

Asuna nodded in understanding, though she seemed uninterested in the photo shoot the girls were having and returned to playing her video game. Nobody else was paying attention to the shoot except for Sophie, who was staring at Shinobu in question. Shinobu could definitely look good in photos, but Sophie had a feeling that if Shinobu wanted to get noticed, she would have to work twice as hard as her competitors.

As she watched Shinobu have her photos taken by a scenic wall of roses, she then noticed a long, skinny vine curl around her left arm. It appeared neither Shinobu or Mari had yet to notice the vine that started to tangle itself tighter onto Shinobu.

"Oh dear." Sophie said to herself, before alerting Rani and Nova.

Bounce was walking around the front of the school courtyard, taking in the day devoid of the inane chatter from the high school students and examining the school in front of her. Was it the best idea to come scope a place like this for good Defective material when nobody would be around? Most likely not, but Bounce didn't care. She wanted nothing more than to be anywhere but Asperity. These days, that place was feeling less and less like a home and more like an imprisonment. It was bothering her relentlessly and she found herself in the human world more often these days, ambling around empty streets and encountering homeless cats. It was a shame she had to let go of Katrina.

She then shut her eyes for a moment and became aware of a presence she hadn't noticed until now. She was irritated in both detecting the presence of the person here, who had clearly been following her and herself for not being too absorbed in her thoughts to not have noticed it before.

"Why are you here?" Bounce asked as she turned around, finding Rubix standing in a tree.

"We need to work together." Rubix said, her voice low as she leaned against the tree and her gaze fixated on Bounce.

Bounce scoffed and stuffed her hands into her pockets as she said," No, we don't. We have separate missions, so you can just run along and go work by yourself while I-"

"-The Patchwork hearts of _the King and the Mage_. " Rubix interjected, her tone more stern yet just as soft," Lilith needs it. And you've had a lot of trouble finding it."

Bounce's patience was growing thin by just being near Rubix but every time she spoke, Bounce swore she felt her blood boil. She was so sick of the girl's indifferent tone, her blunt words and yet how she obviously seemed very out of tune with both the human world and Asperity. Everything bewildered her and she could only focus on whatever orders Lilith would give her. It only added to her weirdness.

"I don't know what you're getting at, but in any case, I am capable of finding them by myself or at least until Jack and Domino are back in the game." Bounce explained, turning her back on Rubix as she walked around the school aimlessly," I don't ever want your help, got it?"

"There's a good target on the west side of the building." Rubix stated, before she disappeared.

Bounce took a deep breath, feeling foolish for what she was about to do and started walking in the direction Rubix directed her to.

Mari was trying to pull the vine off from Shinobu and finally after a few good tugs, Mari ripped the vine away from Shinobu and fell on the grass in the process. Shinobu then helped Mari back up to her feet while Mari dusted herself off.

"I can't believe your guys' magic couldn't even free Shinobu from the vine." Asuna remarked, her tone deadpan as the three of them watched Mari grabbed a tight hold of Shinobu's wrist so they could relocate.

"Who would've thought Mari's magic would be so troublesome." Rani exasperated while shaking her head," It's as bad as a toddler mage's."

Just as Mari was taking Shinobu to a different spot to shoot, Bounce then appeared a few feet in front of them. As soon as Bounce laid eyes of Shinobu, she smiled and conjured up a single black diamond.

"For once that damn Rubix was right." Bounce said as she sent the black diamond towards Shinobu," Go forth and corrupt her Patchwork Heart!"

The black diamond was awfully quick, so quick that Mari didn't even get a chance to see it glide right past her but all of a sudden, Shinobu dropped onto the floor moments later.

"Shinobu!" Mari shouted as she knelt down next to her, shaking her gently in a near desperate attempt to wake her up.

Bounce rolled her eyes at the sight Mari trying to help her friend, though she of all people knew she wouldn't wake up so easily and said," How many times have we done this? You know the drill!"

Bounce then created a Defective made from Mari's camera with Shinobu's corrupted Patchwork Heart. Mari was in sheer disbelief looking at the ten foot tall Defective glowering towards her, made from her most favourite, and not to mention expensive, camera.

Mari then stood up, pressed her eyes shut and then exhaled as she said," You'll pay for this."

Mari then retrieved her PlayPact from her pocket and held it up high as she shouted," Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

A kaleidoscope of sparkles and light appeared from out of her PlayPact, engulfing Mari and leaving Cure Fantasy in her place once they had dissipated.

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!" Fantasy announced.

Fantasy stood her ground and pointed straight at the Defective, saying," Of all things to make a Defective out of, this is your worst choice yet!"

Bounce narrowed her eyes, and wore a curious expression on her face as she asked," And why might that be?"

"Because it's my camera, so I know it like the back of my hand and..." Fantasy said as she jumped up high onto the Defective's arm gently,"...It's cost me half of my summer job's paycheck."

The Defective then pressed the flash button on itself and Fantasy was momentarily blinded. She lost her footing and fell off the arm of the Defective, still recovering from the flash. Fantasy groaned as she kept blinking, seeing nothing but spots around her. The Defective was just about to strike, but then the rest of the Pretty Cure appeared just before it had the chance.

"Pretty Cure, Wishing Tempest!"

"Pretty Cure, Vigilant Ember!"

The two attacks hit the Defective dead on, but it didn't pay out a lot of damage to it. The Defective was only pushed back a few feet, but it was still standing. Dolly and Teddy seemed unimpressed with their efforts as they stared down the Defective while Bubbly came to Fantasy's aid.

"Oh my gosh, are you ok?" Bubbly exasperated as she helped Fantasy back up to her feet. Fantasy nodded and returned her attention to the Defective. Fantasy examined it closely, trying to determine which features could've been used as an attack against them. There were so many hidden tricks and modes the camera had, endless uses for each of them, but for use in a fight? Despite the fact that she was a Pretty Cure and had been fighting for a while now, Fantasy still couldn't figure out how her camera could be used in battle. She sighed, and squinted her eyes at the Defective.

 _"I have to think outside of the box! Think like the bad guy right now."_ Fantasy reminded herself as she closed her eyes for a moment," _Aside from the flash, how else will it fight?"_

Fantasy watched as Teddy leapt up high and clung to the lens of the camera, holding out her right fist and shouting,"I got you now!"

Just as Teddy's fist was going to connect with the camera lens, only then was Fantasy able to predict the Defective's next move. The Defective then pushed out it's lenses, catching Teddy off guard and making her lose grip. Teddy was about to fall on the ground, but Bubbly created a gigantic bubble to cushion her fall.

The Cures gathered around Teddy, sharing the intention to make sure she was ok. Fantasy took a deep breath as she stared at the Defective. She finally thought of something that could've dealt a great amount of damage to the Defective. Fantasy then poked Bubbly to get her attention and started to explain her plan.

Bubbly's eyes lit up and she nodded vigorously in response and said," That's brilliant!"

Fantasy shrugged and let her fellow teammates go on ahead to try fighting the Defective. With Dolly and Teddy work in sync with each other, they were almost evenly matched against the Defective but it'd only be a matter of time until someone slipped up and failed to miss an attack. Dolly made sure to be extra careful with fighting the Defective, putting an awful lot of consideration in where and when she would strike the Defective. Teddy on the other hand had the grace of a wrecking ball and even though she had been informed this was Mari's camera, she seemed to not be focusing too much on who it belonged to but rather how much damage it would bring to others if she didn't fight to the best of her abilities.

Bubbly then leapt in front of her teammates and shouted," Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of-!"

The Defective then immediately grabbed her and tossed her into the group of trees a few feet away. Bounce had an alarmed look on her face once Bubbly stepped before the Defective like that, but seemed to have calmed down now since the Defective appeared to already know what would've happened if it were to be hit by Bubbly's attack.

"Ok, the trouble Cure's out of the way, now we can wrap things up quicker." Bounce declared with a breath of relief.

Dolly and Teddy looked over towards the spot where Bubbly was thrown before exchanging expressions. Fantasy then dashed up towards the Cures with a hopeful look on her face that only confused the two of them.

"Don't worry, we can still do this!" Fantasy reassured them as she took the lead. Dolly and Teddy then nodded and the three Cures continued to fight against the Defective. With the three of them working together against the Defective, it was a lot easier to fight against it. But even then, it wasn't like they were getting ahead or had the upper hand. They were only strong enough to keep up with it.

"Damn it, at this rate, we'll run out of stamina and lose!" Teddy lamented as she narrowly dodged a punch from the Defective. The Defective hadn't appeared to be losing as much energy as the Cures were and without realizing it, it grabbed a hold of Dolly's wrist.

"Shoot!" Dolly chided herself as she attempted to remove herself from the Defective's grasp. She pulled as hard as she possibly could but with the amount of strength she had at this point from all this fighting, even she knew she couldn't free herself. The Defective then tossed her into Fantasy and the two of them struggled to get up, while the Defective quickly grabbed Teddy and squeezed her in its grip.

"Let go of me you dumb camera!" Teddy demanded as she gnashed her teeth together, trying to push herself out of the Defective's grip with no avail.

The Defective then held her up very high, winding up it's arm to throw Teddy as far as it could. Teddy looked almost nauseous from being handled so poorly, but then, she had this bewildered look in her eye as she saw a certain figure in mid-air.

"Pretty Cure, Whirlpool of Justice!"

The Defective was hit dead on and drenched by Bubbly's attack and fell flat on it's face, letting go of Teddy in the process. The Defective appeared to be quite exhausted from it's fight with Dolly, Teddy and Fantasy, much to the Cures' surprise since it didn't seem to tire out one bit. Dolly and Fantasy almost felt sorry for it, but Teddy certainly didn't.

Teddy then punched it in the lens as hard as she could, but not hard enough to break it while yelling," And that's for spinning me around like that!"

Dolly literally had to hold Fantasy back from fighting with Teddy as she chuckled awkwardly while saying," Bubbly sure is strong."

Bounce was at a loss of words, irate as she pointed her finger at Bubbly and questioned," You were supposed to be unable to fight! We hit you and you flew for miles!"

"Did I?" Bubbly asked as she blinked a few times innocently," Or did you think I did that?"

Bounce's eyes opened wide, a look of question appearing on her face as she sputtered out," What are you trying to say?"

"It was a replica of her." Fantasy finally said plainly in a voice that made Bounce only more furious," I made an illusion of her to make an attack, since I had a feeling you were going to be extra careful of her. And just like that, you fell for it and gave us the chance to attack when you least expected it."

"Now, if you don't mind..."Fantasy said as she then took a step forward, conjuring up her white scepter, holding it before her face," I'd like to return to my photo shoot."

"Pretty Cure, Fantastic Daydream Jubilee!" Fantasy shouted as she twirled her scepter around, the atmosphere around them turning into a kaleidoscope colour in the process. A bunch of hearts appeared in every colour imaginable to purify the Defective, encapsulating it and restoring it to its regular form.

Bounce shook her head, a near hysteric smile on her face as she said," There's no way I'm going back to Asperity after this."

And just like that, Bounce left without another word.

The Pretty Cure reversed their transformations and Mari rushed over to Shinobu's side in hopes she'd come to soon. After a few minutes, Shinobu finally woke up and slowly sat upright, trying to figure out what happened and why there was a gap in her memory.

"Are you feeling ok Shinobu?" Mari asked her worriedly, still feeling guilty that Shinobu had become a target today," I'm really sorry this had to happen today...if you want to call it a day, that's totally fine."

"No thanks, I think I'll be fine to shoot a little longer." Shinobu responded, though it appeared she'd have to reassure Mari she'd be ok," I'm feeling great, I want to keep shooting! Besides, I like taking photos with you."

Mari smiled a small smile though she didn't seem fully convinced. She may have been a good photographer but she knew she was far from the best. If anything, she was surprised Shinobu had been so determined to keep shooting.

"But..I didn't have a lot of experience taking photos of human subjects. " Mari admitted nervously," To be honest, I'm worried my photos won't be to your liking."

"I've seen some of your shots and if I'm being honest, I'm beyond impressed." Shinobu confessed with a giggle," Plus...there's a reason why I was shooting with you."

Mari looked at her quizzically and so Shinobu explained herself.

"I haven't been able to get a photographer who wants to work with me. A lot of them find me awkward and tense on camera, plus I'm plain in appearance so they don't have much faith that I'd get far." Shinobu stated as her gaze fell to the floor, before she looked towards Mari," But you didn't turn me away, even if you had never really taken photos of people! You saw my potential and you've been so nice to me this whole time, I'm so glad I ended up shooting with you. You're a great friend Mari!"

Mari stared at her for a few moments and nodded before she smiled, grabbing both of Shinobu's hands and saying,

"I look forward to taking more photos with you!"

That afternoon, Mari went home with a box of hair dye from the pharmacy near her house. Mari held it up to the light and scrutinized the colour that the dye would allegedly make her hair. It was her first time using this stuff, so she wanted to be extra sure that this was the closest possible shade she could get to her old natural colour. Mari then placed it on her bed and looked down at the box, her arms folded as she sighed.

"Rani and Nova said if they were to seal my powers, I probably wouldn't be able to be a Pretty Cure anymore..." Mari said to herself in an unimpressed tone," Why did my powers come when I least expected it? Was it because I was feeling bad about myself? I guess that was my magic's way of proving me wrong, that I'm not ordinary. Far from it actually."

Mari then opened the box dye and headed straight for the bathroom saying," Either way, this _needs_ to be done."

Mari's dad then came home from the grocery store and knocked on Mari's door expectantly, still completely unaware of her magic running wild.

"Mari, do you have a moment to talk?" He asked as he held his ear close to the door.

Mari was rinsing the dye out of her hair and once the water in her sink started to run clear, she walked out of the bathroom and said," Come on in."

Mari's dad wasn't expecting the strong smell that came with the dye and cleared his throat tensely while looking at Mari head to toe.

"Doing something new with your hair?" He asked her casually, but she shook her head and took a seat on her bed," Or, I'm guessing you're just hiding a certain something up."

Mari remained quiet, and just looked down at her bedroom's carpet while her dad took a seat next to her. She was both impressed and embarrassed, unsure of how to explain any of this to her dad, but it appeared that he wasn't done talking.

"I was never sure if this day was going to come, Skylar did warn me about it but...she also warned me about a bunch of things. So, obviously I know I lot about the kingdom and that stuff. But when we were having you, she explained so many things that could've happened and how we would need to explain them to others...yeah, I got confused rather quickly. Anyways, I just want to say that...I'm happy that you were able to awaken your magic. I know you've always wanted this, wanting to be like that Cure Cheer girl. So, if there ever comes a point that, you want to learn more about your heritage, your other homeland, don't feel like you're not allowed to. You can go to the kingdom and maybe even live there for a bit if you'd like, granted that you complete your high-school education, alright?" Mari's dad offered, smiling at Mari.

Mari only gave a very quick nod in response, being a bit worried her dad might retract his statement. The two of them never really spoke about the kingdom together (her parents had yet to know she was a Pretty Cure too) but she was thankful she got to have this talk with him and placed her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, I couldn't have asked for anything more." Mari replied softly.

Bounce impatiently sat cross-legged on the floor in a dimly lit room in Asperity. She didn't intend to come back here for hours, maybe even days but here she was. Rubix literally dragged her back after finding the green-haired girl on a swing set at an empty park, the last place Bounce was expecting to be found at.

Bounce then came clean, shrugging as she eventually said," I don't really want to do this."

"Do you think Lilith cares?" Rubix answered, not missing a beat as she conjured up a pair of red and blue luminescent cubes," Meet your reformed team members."

"What makes you think turning us into these...these _creatures_ is going to help Asperity?!" A voice that sounded like Jack's bellowed from the shadows in the room. The voice was a lot louder than Jack's usual tone, definitely not as playful either. He sounded completely irate and Bounce jumped when he yelled all of a sudden. Rubix wasn't startled though and only glanced towards the spot where the voice came from.

"Jack, you know why this had to happen," A robotic tone that sounded somewhat like Domino, reminded him," We were the weakest members, it was only a matter of time before we received our modifications."

The two figures appeared from the shadows, standing behind the cubes Rubix conjured up. There was a tall figure dressed how Domino once did, but it definitely didn't look human with a literal domino for a head and two intersecting rings around it. It didn't show any skin at all, suited up in a black, white and neon blue lab coat, dark pants and gloves. Domino would've worn something like that, but something gave Bounce a weird feeling the clothes weren't actually covering anything.

"It's nice to see you again Bounce." Domino said to her, only making her more uneasy.

"Quite fitting, yes?" Rubix asked her, but Bounce wouldn't respond with her eyes glued on Domino.

"Was there any point of doing this to me though?!" Jack questioned as he slammed his hands, or paws, on the top of the red glowing cube. Jack wore his exact same clothes, but now, he had the body of a tiger.

"You're depriving all the woman of the world by taking away my normal, handsome form!" Jack claimed as he banged his fists against the cube.

"Jack please you were not that attractive." Domino said to him flatly, only agitating him more.

"Bring them back to normal!" Bounce demanded as she waved her hand frantically in their direction," It's bad enough _you_ of all people are here but now my family has to be turn into these, these things?! Change them back right now!"

Rubix shook her head once, and answered with," I didn't do this. If you want, you can voice your opinions about this change to your mother."

Bounce shook her head, at a loss of words and feeling completely powerless right now, wishing that she was the strongest member in all of Asperity so she could restore things to the way they once were.


	29. An adventure to a coffee shop?

Asuna sat cross-legged on her bed, her arms folded together as she continued to stare at the newest addition to her collection of random knickknacks in her room. Sitting right in front of was what appeared to be what Asuna called a cake topper with a white and gold bear on it. It looked quite cute, but the problem was, Asuna wasn't quite sure of where it came from.

She asked her mom if she had snuck it into her room but she said she hadn't ever even seen the object. She even asked Tadashi about it but he too wasn't sure how it arrived in her bedroom. So naturally, Asuna had to assume that this had to do with the Laruan Kingdom.

So...it's probably not from Earth, right?" Asuna asked Nova.

" I don't think so, but I don't understand how it arrived here. But...it might have something to do with the Laruan Kingdom, problem is I'm not sure what that might be. In any case, we should tell the others about this. Maybe they're experiencing something similar."

Asuna shrugged and reached for her phone sitting at her side table to message the girls about it. But, before she got a chance to message, she noticed a little notification of how her chat with her other friends had been going on without her. Asuna's eyes widened upon seeing that she missing a grand total of ninety-three messages. She groaned, wishing she hadn't even lifted her phone from the table. She knew she shouldn't have expected anything different, especially on a day like today where they had no school on a Friday. She was tempted to simply ignore the messages, but then more of them came, and this time, they were mentioning her.

 _"So Asuna, are you able to come?"_

 _"She's not reading the messages...I think she's busy or something ha"_

After that, everyone then started to mention her in their messages, so she really had no choices but to skim through the earlier ones to see just what they were talking about, because clearly she had no clue. It appeared they were setting up a day to study for the upcoming midterms and they had all decided on Saturday afternoon. Asuna shrugged, and simply agreed to come join them for studying.

"Well, since that's out of the way..." Asuna said as she laid on her bed, with her pillow between her head and the wall," Have...you...guys seen...any...random...toys...showing up...in your...rooms?"

She sent her message to the girls and awaited their response. To kill some time, she considered studying for her midterms but swiftly decided against it and started playing video games instead.

"Ok, so what we should do on Saturday?" Sophie asked into her phone, her headphones in as she straightened up her room," Did you want to go to that Cafe I had been telling you about? We haven't had the chance to go together."

"We could." Cho said plainly over the phone. Sophie and Cho were planning out what to do on their day-off next week Saturday. For Sophie, it would be the first weekend in a long time since she had been busy. On Sunday, she was going to meet with a local designer to model some of their clothes and ask about where she derived her inspiration from. These last few weeks, she had been consistently remind herself that if opportunity weren't coming her way, she'd have to make them on her own. For Cho, it would be the last weekend before she would get training for the position of a supervisor at her job. She hadn't been guaranteed the role just yet, but rumors were circulating around her job that some of the supervisors had been looking for a new job, so a vacancy was sure to appear in the weeks to come. The girls hadn't got the chance to spend time together in what felt like eons to them, so they figured they could just do something casual for the day.

Sophie then noticed she received a text message and read it over briefly while still on call with Cho. She read over the text in her head and then her eyes fell to the rubber duck topper sitting on her writing desk. Sophie pursed her lip and then returned her attention to her call with Cho.

"Cool, so then we could probably just walk around the mall afterwards." Sophie suggested," I'll see you tomorrow?"

"See you then!" Cho said into the phone before she hung up. Sophie then drew out a breath of relief and grabbed the rubber duck topper off of her desk, trying to decide whether or not she should send her teammates a picture of it. It was extremely cute with a little sailor hat on it and decorated with bright blue polka dots, reminiscent of her shoes in her Cure form. She loved the little rubber duck topper, despite not knowing where it came from and had already been considering names for it. She had a nagging feeling that it had something to do with her Pretty Cure life, but she had yet to make the connection. At least now, with the other girls having toys appear from nowhere, they'd have a better chance of figuring out their origins together.

"Yes I found one in my room." Sophie said aloud as she keyed in her message," Should I send pics?"

Once Mari received the message, she took a moment to retrieve the kaleidoscope topper she had lying on her side table. She laid flat on her bed and held it up to the light, watching the colours inside of it dance around. She had a feeling that she wasn't alone in finding a toy in her room and seeing the text made her feel at ease. These mysterious toys popping up into the girls' rooms were a bit worrisome but, surely they had something to do with their Pretty Cure duties.

Mari then heard her mom coming in from downstairs and her father greeting her. She then gently placed a hand against her hair and felt her heart start to race. Tomorrow, Mari had decided to explain to her mom what happened to her and how her magic finally appeared, since her mom had been away all week. But, she had no idea, not even the slightest clue as to how she would react. Would she be happy, surprised, unapproving of Mari keeping her magic unsealed on Earth? It would've been a lot to take in, plus Mari had to skip the details of her being a Pretty Cure too. But, Mari had been doing her best to prepare for tomorrow and offered to take her out to lunch so her mom would already be in a good mood. But still, she had this unrelenting fear that her mom wasn't going to react the way she wanted to. She had yet to even know about the necklace disappearing.

"Maybe it would be better if she didn't know." Mari said to herself," It's not like she can sense magic all that well. She's rusty, she might not ever notice unless I tell her."

Mari then laid down flat on her stomach and burrowed her face into the pillow closest to her, muffling her voice as she said," But this would make her so proud! She would probably love to see something that would remind her of home!"

Mari then removed her face from the pillow, wearing a look of determination on her face as she said," This has to be done!"

The girls agreed to meet up Sunday afternoon to look at these toy toppers together, they just needed Kiriko to affirm her attendance to the informal meeting. Kiriko had yet to see the text though. It would take her hours later, until her shift at work was over, before she would see it.

It was eleven now and Kiriko was just doing the closing duties at work, thinking about her plans for tomorrow. She had yet to tell anyone about it, she didn't plan to anyways and simply decided she'd be offline, from both her student council work and her Pretty Cure duties. She had been planning this outing for weeks now, but wasn't sure if she'd go through with it. Tomorrow was her day-off from work so she'd get the whole day to herself and then she'd be back to work on Sunday.

When Kiriko clocked out, she checked her phone and looked through the messages from two different chats. The first one was from Hayase and Tadashi, who reminded her of how they needed to do their monthly council member evaluation tomorrow. The council member evaluation, better known as the CME, was used to determine which members would be suited for things like the seat of vice-president, president and even who could keep their place based on grades, attendance and overall performance. They usually opted to do it after class, but student council had been somewhat busy these last few weeks, so they three of them had agreed to do it tomorrow. Kiriko just happened to forget all about it.

"No, I can't believe it completely slipped my mind!" Kiriko lamented in a frustrated tone, feeling her heart sink a little.

She then checked the message from the girls and fell quiet. She thought about the doll topper she had sitting on her bed. It looked really nice but she had no idea how it appeared in her bed room. It was good to know that she wasn't the only one finding toys randomly. She then looked at the latest message and frowned a little. She wasn't going to make it for Sunday afternoon, not with a shift that started at one and ended at nine.

"We should probably talk about this face to face, texting about this and then having someone find the messages has always been a fear of mine..." Kiriko said to herself sheepishly," But I can't see them Sunday."

 _"Can we do this on Saturday?"_ Kiriko texted, reading her own message aloud before she sent it before she sighed and continued her message with _," I know of a nice little cafe outside of town we can go to, we won't be gone for very long. We'll meet at the train station near the school, ok?"_

She then stood outside, waiting for her ride to come as she leaned against the glass door to the cafe. Kiriko then sent a text to her fellow student council members about how she wouldn't be able to come until later in the afternoon, since she had plans at the cafe. Moments later, she had received a text from Tadashi that read,

 _"That's cool, what if came along too to do the CME together though?"_

Kiriko glared down at the text, lightly banging her head once against the door. It didn't help that Hayase had just sent a text in agreement too. She was beyond unpleased by these minor inconveniences, especially at this hour in the night where all she wanted was to curl up into her bed and fall asleep. This was no hour to be planning or decision-making but Kiriko just drew out another sigh and bit her lip as she texted,

 _"Sure! We might not get back home for awhile, is that ok with you guys?"_

Both of them texted back saying it was fine, and Kiriko then tried to plan around both meetings she'd have simultaneously and how to avoid talking about the Pretty Cure around them. She had yet to receive a response from any of the girls and just put her headphones in to listen to music instead.

When Asuna got the message, a large grin found its way onto her face upon seeing the word cafe. It had been awhile she had gone to one and she was craving high-end desserts for the last couple of days. Not even thinking about how this would interfere with her study session, Asuna texted back right away saying that she'd go. As soon as she sent the text though, she just remembered her plans for tomorrow. She then decided to bail on the study session without a second thought. But she was at least nice enough to tell her friends she couldn't make it.

 _"Sorry guys, I can't come tomorrow, my friend invited out to this real classy cafe and it'd look bad if I didn't go. Reservations and stuff, you know?"_ Asuna texted them.

 _"Whoa Asuna's moving up in the world."_ Reo texted the group.

 _"That's nothing, we'll just go study there too."_ Misa texted them seconds later, _" Address?"_

Asuna rolled her eyes, knowing that there'd be zero chance of Misa studying in front of desserts she'd yet to try in a cafe she had never been to. So, she humored her and told her to meet them at the train station near the school.

The next morning, Kiriko was up bright and early, despite going to bed so late, and already at the train station waiting for her two groups. Her face was caked with concealer and a bit more makeup than usual, but it wasn't anything dramatic. She glanced over to the station doors and looked at the time on her watch. She told both groups to meet her here at ten thirty and it was only ten o'clock. Normally, with this amount of sleep, Kiriko would've been exhausted and in need of a tall cup of coffee to function like a regular human being. But today, all she had was a very watered down cup from the stand in the station that you could barely classify a caffeinated beverage. It was her nerves that were keeping her more awake than usual. Rani then popped her head out of her bag, since there weren't many people here, to chat with Kiriko a little bit.

"Have you been to this cafe before?" Rani asked her, with Kiriko only shaking her head once in response," Are you sure we won't get lost?"

"We should be fine, it's right next to a bus stop anyways." Kiriko said, her gaze not meeting Rani's.

Sophie walked into the train station with Cho and looked around for Kiriko. Kiriko waved to her and the two of them walked towards her, waving in return.

"It's ok if Cho tags along right? We did have plans to hang out today." Sophie explained to her as she waved her hand in Cho's direction, with Cho smiling hopefully to Kiriko.

"That's fine, you didn't have any trouble finding the place, right?" Kiriko asked her, with Sophie shaking her in response," Cool now we're just waiting on-"

Kiriko's gaze then fell to Mari, Hayase and Tadashi who were all walking into the station together. Hayase led the three of them, while Mari and Tadashi were chatting with each other casually. It was an odd sight for Kiriko, since she had never seen Mari and her council members together.

"Ah I see. Well, I did ask Nanae if she was interested in having one of our members join the Newspaper club to help her get some nice photos but she didn't interested in our work initially. She said it looked boring to her." Mari explained to Tadashi, who was listening intently," Then I explained to her that my clubmates may not have a lot of experience in the type of work she was looking for, but they're all quite skillful. She ended up recruiting three of my members."

Mari then brought her attention to Kiriko and said," It turns out they're heading the same direction as us! Are we waiting on anyone else?"

'Kiriko narrowed her eyes at Mari, though the bespectacled girl hadn't notice, and thought to herself _," Has she not caught on as of-?"_

Kiriko then glanced over to Mari one more time and somehow, the atmosphere around her felt different, as if she had been annoyed, but was pretending to be as chipper as ever. Kiriko felt a chill crawl down her spine as she watched Mari speak with Tadashi.

 _"-She totally figured out."_ Kiriko thought to herself.

"Aren't we just waiting for Asuna now?" Sophie asked the group, though Hayase and Tadashi hadn't paid much attention to her up until now.

Tadashi narrowed his eyes at her, having a feeling he saw her somewhere before, but unable to figure out just where that was. She was pretty, that was certain, but the vague feeling that they had already met wouldn't go away. Finally, it hit him. Tadashi then hit his fist over his hand and looked over to Sophie saying,

"I think I saw you on the bus a couple of weeks ago!"

Sophie laughed awkwardly and Cho only glared at him, completely unimpressed by the fact that he didn't recognize her as a model. But, Sophie was able to recognize him from that incident he mentioned. Kiriko then glanced over towards the door leading into the station and found a group of three familiar first-years walk in. She found Asuna leading them into the train station while taking in her surroundings. It appeared to be her first time walking into the train station and she had yet to start looking for her group.

"Asuna!" Kiriko called out to her.

She finally caught the redhead's attention and the three of them walked over to join the bigger group.

"So you brought extra company too..." Kiriko stated before eyeing the large group assembled in front of her _," Good grief this is a lot of people...will the cafe have a table big enough for a crowd this size?"_

Asuna's friend Misa then giggled as she casually declared," We were going to have way more people than this, but Tomoko dipped last minute and then Sakuya and Amari wanted to go on a date alone. So now it's just me and Reo. Hey Asuna, do they have any Belgian waffles at this place, I've been craving since last week~!"

Asuna shrugged and answered with," Don't ask me, I've never been to this elusive cafe that's apparently so far that we need to take a train to get there."

Kiriko glared at Asuna, who had a feeling her junior was only being so grumpy because she had to wake up earlier than intended. Kiriko then led the large group to where the platform where the train would arrive, wishing she didn't have to bring so many people to the cafe.

Reo was staring holes into Sophie, his heartbeat getting faster the longer he looked at her. There was absolutely no mistake about it, this had to be the very same girl he been obsessing over in the magazine from months ago. She was even prettier in person, but how did Asuna, who was talking to her so casually, know her? Reo then wondered if she actually took him up on his suggestion to get the two of them together through Asuna being their mutual friend.

On the train ride there, everyone became acquainted with and exchanged names with each other. Certain members of the group, such as Mari, mingled with everyone, but most of them kept to their own premade groups for the duration of the train ride. The train seats would have two pairs of seats facing each other and so, most of the groups sat were mashed together with the exception of Asuna's group.

Kiriko sat next to Hayase with Cho and Sophie, not even trying to make conversation as she simply gazed out the window. Cho and Sophie were talking with each other about school, paying little to no attention to Kiriko and Hayase. Hayase glanced over to Kiriko, who looked like she was nodding off. He then looked over to Cho and Sophie, trying to determine which one of the was a part of Kiriko's Pretty Cure team.

"Didn't you think bringing all these people together would've looked suspicious?" Hayase asked her quietly.

"I was forced to make plans at eleven in the night, what else would you expect?" Kiriko said to him, her voice soft as she watched Sophie and Cho laugh with each other.

The group was on the train for a while, definitely a lot longer than any of them had expected. It wouldn't be long until the question of "Are we there yet?" started circulating around the group. Unfortunately, the only person who could answer that was Kiriko, and every time she had been asked, she'd only give vague responses. Some members of the group were beginning to wonder if she actually knew where they were going, but about an hour and a half later, they finally got off the train.

"Ugh, I'm so stiff!" Misa lamented as she stretched herself out before looking around the station they arrived to," Where are we now, Osaka?"

"Not quite, Osaka's in the other direction." Mari pointed out to her, before glancing at a map posted up at the station," Either way, our commute's taken a long time. We must be at least three towns over."

"Three towns over?!" Misa repeated in pure shock.

"This place better be good Kiriko." Tadashi said tiredly as he dragged his feet to catch up with the group. Kiriko didn't say anything in response as she continued to lead the group. Her attention was fixed to her phone, looking at her map she opened up and tried to figure out how much longer they had left.

 _"Fifteen minutes by bus isn't so bad..."_ Kiriko thought to herself," _Let's just hope the rest of the group can hold out a little longer."_

Kiriko directed the group to the upper level of the station, where they were able to catch the local buses from. The group looked around the city inquisitively, still unsure of where they were until Cho found a giant sign near the station.

"Uragizawa? We've really traveled a long way from home." Cho remarked just as their bus arrived, causing Sophie to lightly tug at her arm to follow along.

The bus ride was a lot quieter than the commute on the train, not only because the bus populace was less than half the amount of the people on the train, but the group was getting a bit tired, not to mention hungry. Asuna and Misa had their heads resting on each other's shoulders, dreaming about what kind of desserts would be at the cafe, while Reo snuck some stares in at Sophie, his face redder than a tomato. Everyone else looked out the windows of the bus, taking in the sights around them in Uragizawa. It looked like a quiet little town, definitely not as busy as home, but not so quiet than it felt abandoned. Kiriko had heard that Uragizawa was one of those towns that almost everyone who lived there grew up in and had generations residing in their whole lives. It wasn't one of those cities where people would willingly move into since their wasn't a lot to do here. Some of the only things they had going for them was a select few local restaurants, their prestigious university, and of course, their very kind townspeople.

Mari took a break from looking out the window and then asked Kiriko," Have you been here before?"

Kiriko then rang the bell to signal their stop and answered with," I haven't."

Once the group got off the bus, Kiriko led them towards a cafe painted light blue and violet, with a dark brown rectangular sign above that read "Cafe China Doll."

The group was divided in how they felt about the cafe they stood before. Misa, Sophie and Mari all seemed to be impressed by the exterior of the building, excited for what the cafe had in store for them, but everyone else looked rather skeptic, not wanting to believe Kiriko dragged them all the way out for this.

 _"Of course she wanted to go to the cafe with the word 'doll' in its name_." Asuna thought to herself as she scrutinized the sign.

The group of them then walked in and found that the cafe was a lot bigger than they had realized. It wasn't nearly as quiet as the streets they ambled through to get here and the cafe had quite the inviting, friendly atmosphere to it. A few servers looked up once the bell at the door rang, signaling a new set of guests and smiled to the group. There was one server though who just looked at the group blankly as she poured coffee into the cup of the guest she was serving, not realizing it was overflowing.

"Eri, pay attention!" One server shouted to her, snapping her back to Earth to see the mess she made. Eri waved one of her hands around frantically from the piping hot coffee she managed to spill on herself.

"I'll fix this, be right back!" Eri reassured as she dashed to the back to get a washing rag and a new cup for the guest. It was an almost laughable sight to watch the tall girl with long blond and dark brown hair gathered into a ponytail try to maneuver her way to the kitchen without bumping into a table.

One server then looked towards the group, their gaze stuck on Kiriko for a few moments, before they smiled earnestly and walked towards the group. Kiriko bashfully reframed her stare to the tables around them as the server approached the group.

"Hey guys, welcome to China Doll! I'm Kai and I'll be your server today." The server greeted as he led them to their table. The best they could give to the large group was a pair of narrow tables in the center of the cafe with high seats beside them.

"We don't often have groups as big as yours, so I hope this will be ok for you." Kai stated as they handed a menu to everyone. Kai then walked off swiftly to get everyone a glass of water. The group was impressed by their server, who appeared to be about the same age as them but had this very professional, yet welcoming presence to them.

"I don't think I've ever had a server as young as him." Reo remarked before he started looking through the menu," This place is a bit expensive though."

The group was in agreement, but nobody wanted to vocally share these thoughts. Kiriko kept her attention only on the menu in front of her, feeling herself grow rigid in the cafe as time went on.

"So Kiriko, how did you hear about this place?" Tadashi asked casually as he cleared his throat.

Kiriko jumped a little, though no one noticed and she answered with," Just some online reviews. I figured trying something new would've been nice."

Kai returned with a tray of empty glasses in one hand and a pitcher in the other. They laid out a glass for everyone on the table and poured out water into everyone's cups.

"Have you guys decided on what you'll having today?" Kai asked them in a cheerful tone that girls enjoyed hearing but the boys found annoying.

Once the group gave Kai their orders, Kai left and the group was left to themselves, so they attended to their business for the afternoon. Hayase, Tadashi and Kiriko worked on their CME, Asuna, Reo, and Misa were studying, well at least they were trying to, and Sophie, Cho and Mari just had some small talk amongst each other.

One of the servers tapped Kai on the shoulder and asked them," Do you want a hand with those orders when they're ready?"

"Yeah, but I'll just get Eri to help out. You already got your hands full, Yazu." Kai reminded him as they went to hand in the order. Kai then looked around the cafe, but noticed they couldn't seem to find Eri. They assumed she was putting the washing rag away in the kitchen's supply closet.

After about ten minutes, everyone's orders were ready. Kai and his fellow server Yazu then appeared at the table, delivering everyone's orders. Kai originally was going to have Eri help out, but the girl hadn't been seen for a solid twenty minutes. Maybe she had been on break? Kai didn't care, and kept their attention solely on the table they were serving, as always.

"A white-chocolate caramel cheesecake for Miss Red..." Kai said as they placed a dish with a large slice of cake on it front of Asuna," And a double chocolate cake for the young man over here..."

"Miss, did you want those macarons with a to-go box just in case?" Yazu asked Misa who only shook her head in response.

"I can just share them with the table." Misa replied as she waved a hand of dismissal, placing her dish of macarons in the table's center," You guys can take some if you want."

Hayase and Tadashi grabbed a pair of macarons, one was mango flavoured and the other was cotton candy. Tadashi popped the whole macaron into his mouth, while Hayase just stared at the pink, blue and purple macaron curiously.

"You're supposed to eat it." Tadashi whispered to him, genuinely believing Hayase had never seen a macaron before.

"And the cookies and cream Belgian waffle was for..." Yazu began, as he looked around the table curiously. Kai then took the dish and placed it before Kiriko.

"Enjoy." Kai said to her before they left with Yazu.

Most of them found it a bit suspicious that Kai remembered Kiriko's order easily, except for Asuna, whose mouth was full of cheesecake as she said,

"Well damn, that dude's memory is pretty good. Bet he doesn't need to study for midterms."

Some members of the group chuckled at Asuna's remark and they began to eat. The desserts they ordered were beyond their expectations in both presentation and taste. Everyone's desserts looked identical to the display picture of it in the menu, and each dessert was crafted to utmost perfection and decorated with only the best toppings.

Reo, Tadashi, Cho and Mari, who didn't eat desserts very often, were overly surprised by not only how big their desserts were, but how nicely arranged and picture perfect they looked.

Kiriko slipped away to go to the washroom but on her way there, she was pulled into a room. Kiriko was going to scream, but as soon as she saw who pulled her in, she fell silent. She then looked around and discovered she was inside what appeared to be their janitor's closet. The compact space she was sharing with Kai was overflowing with the scent of cleaning supplies, it was grossly intoxicating.

Kai then pointed to a stool in the closet, offering Kiriko to take a seat. Kiriko complied and just looked at Kai.

"So, don't you think a little bit of notice would've been nice?" Kai asked her, as she awkwardly let her gaze travel to her feet," I'm not mad, I just..."

Kiriko finally lifted her head, a nervous smile on her face as she said,"I can't see my favourite former work friend without notice?"

Kai smiled and kneeled down to speak to her at eye-level, gently placing their hand on her shoulder as they said," You _shouldn't_ see your favourite former work friend without notice. But, anyways, how come you didn't shoot me up a message?"

"I sent you one on LINE." Kiriko responded timidly as she stared at Kai. Despite having not seen them in about a year and a half, Kai hadn't changed a bit in both personality and appearance. They still had the same pretty porcelain complexion, same russet brown hair and big, bright honey coloured eyes. They might have grown a few inches, but Kiriko couldn't tell since they were always taller than her.

"Hm, I don't think I used LINE for a while now to be honest...not since I was using he pronouns." Kai said, before he remembered something," Oh, yeah! I don't think you know this yet but-"

"You've been using they/them. I know, I think I remember you posting a story about that some time ago." Kiriko interrupted," I've been using those for you. I'm sorry I came unexpectedly, I just wanted to see you. I missed you quite a bit, you know?"

Kai smiled to her, they couldn't simply deny or stay annoyed with Kiriko since she really didn't mean any harm," I missed you too."

Kai used to live in the same city as Kiriko. During that summer of their first year of highschool, Kiriko and Kai met working at a cafe called White Rabbit. White Rabbit was a cafe that had a large selection of breakfast foods, their lattes were deemed by both Kai and Kiriko to be undefeated in taste and craftsmanship. White Rabbit was easily quite busy on weekends and the cafe was filled with laughter and chatter by Saturday at noon. Kiriko and Kai were hired around the same time, but Kiriko had been too shy to speak to or even approach Kai, who was clearly really good at their job. It was Kai who spoke with her first, by giving her tips on how to speak with guests in a more upbeat manner and eventually how to open up to her fellow coworkers. Kiriko was closed off and easily the most timid member on her team, but talking to Kai soon became something enjoyable and that she couldn't do without that summer.

One day, Kai learned something interesting about Kiriko, and instead of being weirded out by this, Kai was actually quite the opposite. Kiriko loved dolls with all her heart, but never wanted others to know in fear of being seen as a child or immature. They loved hearing Kiriko talk about dolls, since they too enjoyed collecting them but they had to keep their collecting top-secret from everyone. Kiriko was so happy to find someone with the same interests as her, someone who wouldn't judge her for her hobbies or passions and only shared her love of dolls.

When summer came to an end, Kai had to tell Kiriko they were moving. She didn't want to accept it, she was in tears by the time Kai's final day at White Rabbit arrived. But, she didn't let them see her so upset. Instead, Kiriko saw them off with a smile and wished them the best. But as soon as she got home, when Kai was out of sight, she cried and cried until the tears cascading down her cheeks soaked her pillow.

She thought about keeping in touch with Kai, but she didn't want to. She didn't feel like it was enough just to simply message them, plus she didn't want to be a bother. Soon enough, White Rabbit closed down due to lack of business and her times there were nothing more than a distant memory.

 _"Knowing we have to be apart again hurts more than I realized..."_ Kiriko thought to herself as she watched Kai lead her out of the room.

Jack and Domino sat outside in a nearby field, with the former fighting urge to stretch himself out on all-fours. Domino opted to sit beneath a tree, where he wouldn't have to be in direct sunlight nor face the chance of short-circuiting in this heat.

"Rubix said she found a perfect target to use today, but...why are we in a place like this?" Jack asked as he sprawled himself out on the grassy field," I don't think we've ever even been here before."

"According to my calculations, it would appear we've been assigned this destination as we'll have an easier chance of using this Defective longer. And the longer a Patchwork Heart stays a Defective, the stronger it becomes. If we don't come across the Pretty Cure today, we might possibly have a chance in making this Defective strong enough to serve us in our final battle." Domino pointed out to him, not realizing how bewildered Jack appeared by his last statement," You knew it was only a matter of time."

Jack and Domino then heard what sounded like a child shouting loudly in the nearby park. They turned their heads in the direction it came from and found a child with a little chess board and a plush lion sitting on the opposite side of it.

"Check." The plush lion said in response to his opponent's move.

"No fair! How are you supposed to be better than me?" The boy said as he pouted at the board in front of him.

"You still have a chance to win Kotaro," The plush lion reminded him, in an attempt to instill some hope in his opponent.

Jack and Domino stood there, in near disbelief of what transpired before them. In theory, this was far from possible to happen here on Earth for a plethora of reasons. For starters, that boy didn't have any particularly strong magic to him, plus he was too young to divide his Patchwork Heart and give half of it to the plush toy.

"Think he's in disguise and had his magic sealed away or something?" Jack suggested to Domino, who only shook his head once in response.

"If he had to seal up his magic, he wouldn't be able to make that plush come to life." Domino pointed out," Either way, this has to be the target Rubix was talking about."

Jack nodded and was about to approach the boy beneath the slide, but Domino held onto his arm and reminded him of something important.

"We no longer have to close the distance between us and the target, remember?" Domino said to him as he motioned to the screen on his sleeve and pushed a set of buttons, firing out pair of black diamonds. The two black diamonds came in contact with the boy and his plush, and affixed themselves to both halves of the Patchwork Heart.

"Corrupt their Patchwork Heart." Domino commanded imperatively, leading the boy and his plush to drop to the ground unconscious.

"Do your worst, Defective!" Domino called out, merging the corrupted Patchwork Heart with the plush lion.

A ten foot tall Defective was born and started to run off on its own, something that the two of them hadn't anticipated. They exchanged expressions, both of them unsure of what just happened and started to run after the Defective.

"Defective!" The Defective shouted over and over as it ran across town mercilessly. Having zero idea of its purpose and set on only doing what it pleased, the Defective just charged through the streets without question. Until it reached China Doll, where the Toychest Pretty Cure stood waiting for it.

"I guess it shouldn't be surprising that Rani and Nova sensed this Defective from so far away." Dolly remarked," It feels different from the others."

The Cures nodded in agreement as they watch the Defective's every move. It was rambunctious just like the others but, this was had no idea what to do. It seemed quite lost and unsure of its own goal. The Defective became docile though in the face of the Pretty Cure and chose not to try moving past them. But just then, Jack and Domino caught up to it.

Jack, standing on all-fours, turned his head sharply to Domino and frantically sputtered out," This Defective is a dud! It doesn't even know what the heck it's supposed to do!"

"Worry not, that can be easily adjusted." Domino reassured him as he pressed a sequence of buttons on his sleeve.

Just then, a neon blue and black ring appeared from out of nowhere around the Defective and circled it from top to bottom. The Defective changed drastically in nature, no longer feeling confused about its objective and simply charged towards the Cures.

The four of them jumped up as high as they could, surveying the Defective curiously as the Defective tried to grab for them up in the air. The Defective even tried jumping up a bit to reach them.

"Wow, Mr. Lion is way more angry than before." Bubbly remarked as she and Fantasy landed onto a building," Could that ring have brainwashed him?"

"Most likely." Fantasy replied as she jumped off of the building and headed straight for the Defective shouting,"Pretty Cure, Playground of Pretenders!"

The Defective was now surrounded by very, very tall grass and had a hard time seeing the Cures. But the Cures could see the Defective just fine since there wasn't actually any tall grass in the vicinity. The Cures, except Fantasy, all looked at wearing the same confused expression, but Teddy then figured it out and gave Fantasy a thumbs-up.

"You made it think there's something like a big wall in front of it, right?" Teddy asked her as she ignited flames into her palms.

"It'll take a lot out of you to keep that illusion up right?" Dolly asked her, with Fantasy nodded hesitantly in response," It's fine, we've got the upper hand now so we can probably finish him off quickly!"

Fantasy then nodded and urged Dolly and Bubbly to join Teddy in the fight.

"Pretty Cure, Vigilant Ember!" Teddy cried out as she flung out a pair of gigantic flaming spheres with rings around them to the Defective. The Defective hadn't seen it coming at all and only held its front leg up near its head to defend itself. The attempt was weak though and the Defective was hit straight on. The Defective was enraged to be hit by the attack, its front leg experiencing searing pain from Teddy's attack and ran past the tall grass in search of the Cures.

Fantasy's illusion seemed to have stopped working now, much to her surprise and the Defective just glowered towards the Cures.

"Didn't you girls know? The lion is the king of the jungle." Jack commented coyly.

"Good thing we aren't in the jungle!" Dolly reminded them as she darted towards the Defective, her hands glowing violet, as she said," Pretty Cure, Wishing Temp-!"

The Defective then grabbed hold of Dolly by her ankle and flung her all the way to the little meadow where the Defective was made. Dolly crashed upside down into a tree and sunk down to the grass. Despite all her battles, she had yet to have been thrown with such force. Dolly then crossed her legs and pressed both of her hands against her right ankle.

"It hurts really bad, but I can't just stay here like this!" Dolly reminded herself as she cautiously tried to stand herself up," That Defective...it doesn't even want to fight."

Dolly took a deep breath and ripped on some of the excess ribbon on her back bow, twisting it around her ankle and squeezing it tight. She then started to run back to where the rest of her team and the Defective were fighting.

"Pretty Cure, Bubbling Impact!" Bubbly shouted as she launched a multitude of bubbles towards the Defective. Once the bubbles came near to the Defective, they exploded upon contact and sent the Defective flying a few feet backwards. Teddy gave her fellow Cure a pat on the back as the two of them raced towards the Defective. Dolly then walked over to Fantasy, who seemed to have been recovering from getting hit.

"Have we gotten anywhere?" Dolly as she offered a hand to Fantasy.

"I don't know, every time I feel like we've outsmarted it, it'll lash out unexpectedly and act unpredictably." Fantasy explained in a grim tone," In truth, I'm not sure of what else we can do."

Dolly looked up and saw Teddy and Bubbly dodging a bunch of hits from the barely damaged Defective, who looked furious as they tried to land a hit on either of them.

Teddy jumped up, but just then, the Defective grabbed her by the leg and threw her straight towards the ground. Luckily for her, she got caught by Bubbly's "Bubbling Impact" attack. Teddy struggled to sit upright as she narrowed her eyes at the Defective.

"I'm getting real sick of this two-faced Defective." Teddy said as she hopped off of the bubble. Dolly watched her two teammates anxiously and then finally it was about time she took matters into her own hands and ran towards the Defective.

But even if she was taking action, she felt an irrational fear overcome her upon facing this Defective. Not having a plan scared her but doing something that could inadvertently hurt her teammates made her feel even worse. Dolly thoughtlessly skidded to a stop, just a few feet away from the Defective. After realizing what she did, she felt her heart start to race standing right before the ten foot plush turned monster. She wasn't just scared now, she was horrified. But, she was petrified in spot, and fought as hard as she could to do something, anything, but to no avail.

Dolly waited for the worst, but then, she heard a soft, shaky voice that appeared to belong to the Defective. Dolly looked up and patiently waited for it to continue speaking.

"Pl-please...please protect Kotaro...he's my best friend..." The Defective stammered out in a low voice, its whole body trembling as it's eyes met Dolly's. Dolly then stared at the Defective for a few seconds, trying to make sense of what the Defective requested from her.

 _"This Defective...was it made from an animate plush toy?"_ Dolly thought to herself as she watched the Defective stand helplessly before her.

She then looked deep into the eyes of the Defective and gave it a calm, reassuring smile as she said," We will protect Kotaro. But, in order to do that, we need to save you and help you turn back to normal. We mean absolutely no harm, so can you find it in your heart to trust us Mr. Lion?"

The Defective seemed nervous at first but something about Dolly and how she spoke to the it felt trustworthy not to mention vaguely familiar. The Defective saw nothing wrong with placing its trust into Dolly and simply nodded its head in agreement.

"Idiot, why isn't it listening to you anymore?!" Jack shrieked as he pounced onto Domino's back, who was busy keying in a bunch of different sequences.

With none of the sequences working, Domino gave up and said," We're leaving. I refuse to stay for a defeat like this."

Dolly then had come up with an idea, and held her hand out, as if trying to conjure something up. To her surprise, the 'doll cake topper' she found in her room appeared in her palm and immediately,she knew her idea could come into fruition here.

"We're purifying it together, ok?" She said to her team as she showed them her topper," Try and conjure these into your hands."

The Cures did as told and the toppers all appeared into their hands. Next, Dolly had them bring forth their scepters and inspected the top of hers. To her dismay, it was flat and free of any openings for her to insert the topper. But a few moments later, the scepter suddenly revealed an opening fit for the topper. Dolly held her scepter up to the light, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. She inserted the topper in and spun it all the way around until she heard a click.

Once the topper made a full circle and was secure in the scepter, Dolly underwent a little transformation, an upgrade to her regular Cure outfit. The outfit was lighter in colour and her overall dress was now pink and white and had a patchwork design on it. She urged everyone to follow suite and so, they did.

The four of them, now in their upgraded forms, held up their scepters and shouted out in unison," Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"

The atmosphere around them turned white and the Defective found itself able to calm down as a mass of shimmering lights engulfed it, reverting it into its original form.

The Cures then undid their transformations, all of them impressed with the accomplishment of today. The girls felt stronger than they led themselves to believe and somehow, they felt as if they could face anything.

Kiriko then walked over to the plush lion on the ground, who appeared to be asleep rather than lifeless. It's eyes were closed and it laid there soundless on the field. Kiriko picked it up gently, noticing a dogtag collar on the plush.

"My name is Arthur. If I'm lost, please return me to Kotaro Natsuki by calling this number." Kiriko read out, her face turning pale as she read the number quietly,"...You can't be serious."

Eri was hiding in the janitor's closet, sitting with her back against the door so nobody could come in. She hid in the bathroom for a little while but after realizing that it wouldn't have been fair of her to use that as her hiding place, she relocated here. She wrapped her arms around the plush penguin lying on her stomach, who gave her a disapproving look.

"Your highness, I know you said you weren't interested in meeting these new Pretty Cure, but I would have never expected you to flat out hide from them like some kind of child." The penguin chided with a shake of her head," Don't you feel the slightest bit ashamed of yourself?"

Eri shook her head, a small but triumphant smile on her face as she responded with," To be honest, no. I don't want to be involved with the Pretty Cure or any of this whole damn mess. This was a blessing in disguise, Sylvia. I know you might not understand but please, try to sympathize with me."

"Arabella, can't you see they're only trying to help?" Sylvia asked her.

"Can't you see I don't _want_ their help?" Eri retorted with a scoff," The minute we meet up, I'll get thrown back into that crazy kingdom and glued to a throne at the ripe age of twenty. I am not letting any of that happen, ok?"

Sylvia only stared her down for a few moments before drawing out a sigh as she said," As you wish."


	30. Frog President

Hayase and Tadashi sat facing each other in the near empty classroom, reading over a set of their evaluations and looking at a select few closely. The both of them had no intent to mention the elephant in the room in front of their fellow members, but with only the two of them here, they felt more at ease to speak about the topic on their minds. The end of the school year was slowly creeping up on them. Soon enough, their days as a student here at Ikoma would be numbered and while the idea of new chapter in their lives was exciting, they still had some matters to tend to before they took their leave. For example, deciding on a new student council president.

Usually, a student who had interest in the position would tell the current head of the council, but the problem was, nobody except for some headstrong first-years expressed interest in it. Their team had some very passionate, hard-working first-year members but, neither Hayase or Tadashi thought they were responsible enough as of yet. It was one thing to say they'd do great things as student council president but to actually go through with it? The two boys sat in the room, sighing since they already knew how overwhelmed a second-year president with all the responsibilities they'd have.

"Our second years are a lot more timid in comparison huh?" Tadashi remarked with a chuckle as he held the evaluation of a second-year whose existence he nearly forgot," It's a shame since the first-years would likely feel unappreciated for their hard work."

Hayase shrugged, looking over to evaluation of another second-year, as he commented with"They don't need to be super out-going or get along with everyone. I just want someone who's going to get the job done right."

Tadashi nodded in agreement and said," Well, I think the most prominent second-year members we've got are Shina and Misato, but neither of them have voiced any interest as successors. Do you think we should have a talk with them about it?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'll text Kiriko about it later this evening" Hayase answered as he gathered all the evaluations into a binder on the table," We've been here for quite a bit, I'm going to head out soon. Coming with?"

"Sorry man, I wanted to check out the fitness gym they built near the cafeteria." Tadashi said sheepishly as he handed Hayase the evaluations in his hands," I'll see you tomorrow though!"

Hayase nodded and exited the classroom, just before Tadashi collected his things and left heading the opposite direction. Tadashi looked around the empty halls of the school, thinking about the potential candidates that he and Hayase chose.

"Shina may be a little weird, but she knows how to listen to others well and come up with creative solutions. Misato's seriousness and quiet take-action attitude compliments her personality well. They're sorta like me and Hayase!" Tadashi said to himself.

Just then, Tadashi heard a pair of familiar voices from inside one of the classrooms ahead. He walked alongs the walls in the corridor and glanced into the windows of the classroom. Inside of the room was Kiriko and Mari sitting on a high table in front of a tray with a frog on it. Mari was shaking like a leaf, her eyes pressed shut as she slightly turned her head away from the tray. Kiriko sat across from her, wearing an overly sympathetic look on her face. Tadashi knew that look very well, so he was aware that Kiriko was in fact not feeling sympathy, but rather impatience. She had a bad habit of making that face when she first joined student council and while it was good in masking her insensitivity, Tadashi told her that faking concern for others wasn't going to cut it if she wanted to stay on the council.

Tadashi then decided to step into the class to see if he could be of any help. He smiled to the girls and waved his hand, with Mari waving back anxiously in return. He stood next to the girls and looked down at the frog on the tray. It was pinned down and lifeless, so there was no way for it to move around or anything while Mari attempted dissecting it. Though, Tadashi had a feeling that wasn't why Mari seemed so against this.

Mari then let go of the little scalpel in her hand and finally said," I can't do this."

Kiriko held back on a sigh and then said," If you're not comfortable with it, you can just tell the teacher. I'm sure he'll understand."

"You don't wanna dissect it?" Tadashi asked her as he stared at the frog with them.

"No! Dissections are inhumane and messy and mean and I mean...think about it! Imagine you're a frog, living your life completely unaware that your only purpose is to be cut up by a high-school student who doesn't gain anything from doing so. Don't you think that's just terrible?"

"If I were a frog...?" Tadashi repeated blankly, beginning to envision himself living the life of a frog.

 _"She's lost him..."_ Kiriko thought to herself before saying to Mari," Mari, the frog can't feel pain anymore. You're free to cut him up and the frog's not going to mind. For all we know, it could've had a really good life, and it was ok with passing on."

"That's it, when the teacher comes back, I'm telling him I can't dissect it." Mari concluded as she stood up from the table," I don't have the heart to slice up an innocent creature like that and he'll just have to accept it."

Kiriko pursed her lips, and didn't want to mention the obvious but felt as if she no choice to and said," The teacher has to make students who fail to do a dissection write an extensive research paper on an animal of his choice. You're ok with that, right?"

"I don't mind! All I could wish for now is that no frog ever has to go through something like that again and gets to live the life that they choose!" Mari declared firmly as she banged her fists on the table.

Suddenly, a mass of rainbow lights appeared and blinded the three of them completely for a few moments. Once the lights dissipated,, the girls looked around curiously to see what happened. Kiriko glared at Mari for a few moments, annoyed with the fact that Mari's magic was still acting up (even if she couldn't help it) especially since there was a non-cure in the room. The lights were gone now, but now Tadashi was too.

"Tadashi?" Kiriko called out worriedly as she inspected the room.

The girls heard a croak and then looked down at the frog on the tray, who was still lifeless. But, sitting next to the dissecting frog was a yellow-green frog with big dark eyes. It looked as if was in deep thought as it stared into space.

"Tadashi...?" Kiriko repeated nervously with the frog turning to her, but then going back to staring straight ahead a few moments later," Mari..."

"I didn't mean to! Do you honestly believe I wanted to see Tadashi turn into a frog?" Mari stared as she leaned closer to frog Tadashi, who licked his eyeball.

"Just change him back." Kiriko demanded as she took a seat on the stool behind her, arms crossed as she suspiciously watched frog Tadashi.

Mari nodded in response and stared down frog Tadashi, and then banged her fists on the table, while keeping her gaze fixed to the frog. The frog Tadashi flinched, but no lights and no human Tadashi appeared. She tried again, but nothing happened. Mari stood up after a few failed attempts and tried to hold out her hands in strange positions to see if that would do anything. Still, nothing worked in getting Tadashi back to normal. The longer Mari took to fix Tadashi, the more anxious Kiriko became. Kiriko leaned close to the frog Tadashi and tried to figure out what else might have triggered the transformation. Frog Tadashi was a lot more relaxed than Kiriko would've expected, doing nothing but sitting around and occasionally puffing his chest in and out. Kiriko glanced over to Mari, who was still trying to bring human Tadashi back but at this point, it appeared futile as her poses got more and more strange. Kiriko sighed and looked around the room in search of a container for the frog Tadashi. She found a small empty box lying in the corner and took it into her hands as she walked back to the desk where Tadashi was.

Kiriko put the box on the table, but didn't make any attempt to place Tadashi in the box. She drummed her fingers against the surface of the desk, unwilling to simply try to grab Tadashi in fear he'd jump away and escape.

"At this point, I guess our only hope is asking Rani and Nova for help." Mari said in defeat, feeling a bit ashamed that she couldn't bring human Tadashi back. Kiriko nodded but, her gaze was kept on frog Tadashi who was still sitting in the same spot. Kiriko then moved the box in Tadashi's point of view and said slowly in an imperative tone,

"Tadashi, get in the box."

Tadashi blinked a few times and hopped forwards. Kiriko and Mari exchanged impressed looks, but Tadashi refused to move any further. Kiriko narrowed her eyes at the frog and held the box closer to him. The frog only blinked some more and remained still.

Kiriko decided she was done playing around and demanded, " Tadashi, _now_."

Tadashi took one leap forward, just as Kiriko moved the box towards him, managing to get Tadashi inside. She clamped it shut for a few moments with an empty tray on the desk and waited for Tadashi to calm down a bit. But, Tadashi didn't make any fuss once he was inside the box and just sat around like before. Kiriko slowly removed the tray off the box and learned that Tadashi didn't seem interested in trying to make an escape. All he did in the box was lick his eyeball again.

Unimpressed by frog Tadashi, Kiriko only said," I'm just going to text Asuna and Sophie to meet us at my house."

About an hour or so later, the four Cures along with the fairies were all gathered in Kiriko's bedroom with frog Tadashi being the center of attention. Frog Tadashi did do anything note-worthy and continued to sit around staring idly at the walls in Kiriko's room. Rani and Nova sat a little closer to the frog to see what they were dealing with and to decide what could remedy the situation. Sophie looked at the frog intently, she had never actually seen one up close and thought it was sorta cute. But once she was told it was the boy she met at when they all went to the cafe last week, she only felt remorse for the frog, and then wondered what being a human turned frog was like.

"Poor thing, and you guys have no idea how to get him back to normal?" Sophie asked the two witnesses, who only shook their head in response.

"I guess I just had frogs on the brain since I had to dissect one for class and Tadashi was just there and well..." Mari stammered out as she set her eyes on the frog, feeling even more guilty," I'm really sorry about this, especially to you Asuna."

Asuna snickered, only leaning in closer towards the frog and poking it's stomach as she said," Are you kidding me? This is hilarious! I always said he looked kinda like a toad and now we've come full circle!"

"Asuna, are you even the slightest bit concerned for him?" Kiriko asked her sounding agitated as she narrowed her eyes to the redhead," How will you even explain this to your mom?"

Asuna continued to poke her frog brother, not returning her gaze to the group as she said," It's fine, I'll just say something like he's crashing at our dad's place. He's already been doing that so it shouldn't be too suspicious."

 _"Plus... this buys me a bit of time."_ Asuna thought to herself as she poked away at Tadashi.

 _Asuna and Tadashi got home from their little outing with their giant group, with Asuna crashing onto the couch on the living room while Tadashi turned on the TV. Asuna felt like she could've just fallen asleep here, but then Tadashi started to speak to her._

 _"Damn, so you've made friends with a model? That's awesome! Maybe she could introduce me to her cute model friends~" Tadashi mused as he watched the show he tuned on to," By the way...you never told me why you've started talking to Kiriko. Will I ever get to know?"_

 _"I pretended to fall asleep, though I doubt he bought that. Still, he has yet to ask me about it again."_ Asuna thought to herself, feeling herself grow tense as she watched the frog _," He was definitely going to at some point. I guess as of now, that's the least of my problems."_

"So, any bright ideas?" Kiriko asked Rani and Nova, who seemed to be finished with their Tadashi observing.

The two fairies exchanged expressions, and nodded their heads. They stood in front of the girls, the both of them wearing very certain and stern looks on their faces.

"We're...completely stumped." Rani surmised plainly.

"What? I thought you two were magic experts!" Asuna shouted as she pointed a finger to Nova," Weren't you two the ones who sealed up Chinami's magic?"

"Sealing up magic like hers was a cake walk!" Nova said in her defense as she crossed her arms," But...the truth is Mari's magic is troublesome. We aren't really used to magic that transforms and moves things sporadically. Have you gotten any advice on how to tame your magic from your mom?"

The girls all turned to Mari, who clung onto a pillow defensively as she said," I haven't even got the chance to tell her."

"Really, you had two chapters to tell her, that's plenty of time!" Rani chided her before her returned her attention to Tadashi," We can try to get in contact with someone from the kingdom to see if they have any experience with this since that door we created to connect the two worlds is still here. Nova and I could easily go to look for help. In the meantime, don't let Tadashi out of your sight!"

The girls nodded and the two fairies walked into the corner of Kiriko's room to enter the kingdom through the door. Once the two of them left, the girls stared at the frog again, who wouldn't even move an inch.

"I guess you'll need a proper container for him." Kiriko said to Asuna as she tried to find something suitable to hold the frog," What do frogs even eat anyways?"

"Oh, they can eat crickets,worms, caterpillars, moths and a bunch of other insects! They tend to be quite carnivorous." Mari explained, only grossing out the team.

"Why do I have to be the one to take care of him though?" Asuna asked flatly.

"He's your brother, isn't he?" Kiriko pointed out as she tossed a clear bucket she found in her closet to Asuna.

"But I don't know how to care for a frog!" Asuna reminded them impatiently before an idea came to her, as she pointed to Kiriko," But, you can."

Kiriko looked at her in question, letting Asuna continue.

"You are the Princess of Wishes. You say that every time you transform! So your kiss can save Tadashi!" Asuna explained, though Kiriko only appeared disgusted by the idea.

"She really doesn't want to look after her frog brother huh?" Mari said sheepishly to Sophie, who only watched Asuna curiously.

Kiriko raised her hands up to protest and said sternly," There is no way I would ever kiss Tadashi."

 _"Why did she put it like that?"_ Mari and Sophie thought to themselves.

The next day at lunch, Kiriko and Hayase could be seen working away on some notes for the meeting they planned to have after school. Kiriko glanced over to the notes Hayase was making, a small smile on her face as she saw the words 'Discuss elections' circled in red. Kiriko pointed to the circled words on the paper and looked at Hayase as she said,

"It feels weird knowing that we'll be relieved of these roles soon, doesn't it?"

Hayase nodded in response and said casually," But, it feels nice in a way. Soon we won't be the trio of the council, and after that, we won't be students here at Ikoma. After that, the rest is up to us."

"You're so cheesy." Kiriko chided as she rolled her eyes," So, after talking about the elections, we'll have a talk with Misato and Shina about the role in private. After all this time, they haven't said a word about elections. Do you think they're just shy about the whole speech thing they'll need to do?"

"It's a possibility." Hayase replied as he scribbled some more notes on his page as he felt a shiver crawl down his spine," I remember how bad mine was. But at least everything worked out in the end. Too bad Tadashi can't come today to encourage them, not with that frog in his throat."

Kiriko chuckled awkwardly, well aware that it was only a figure of speech but just hearing the word frog had her on edge this past day. As Kiriko wrote down some notes into her binder, a thought then came into her mind. She put her pencil down for a moment and looked over to Hayase again.

"Hey, I remember Tadashi mentioning that you two had been best friends since you were kids, does that mean you've been friends with Asuna all this time too?" Kiriko asked him.

"Well, only when we were kids. Ever since then, Asuna and I grew apart and...she hasn't grown up. She still acts like a selfish brat and I don't think she'll change anytime soon." Hayase explained as he returned to his note taking.

Kiriko watched him for a few moments, in disagreement with him but having no intent on correcting him. If he had been talking about the Asuna of a couple of months ago, then maybe those words would've rang true. Even if Kiriko had only known Asuna for a short while, she knew well that Asuna had been changing and slowly undoing her own bad habits. If only Hayase knew of her progress. Kiriko kept quiet and continued to jot down some extra topics to go over during the meeting.

Asuna was sitting with her back against the wall next to the same class room Mari attempted her frog dissection. Asuna was growing impatient after waiting around for what felt like ages but had only been about fifteen minutes. She then crossed her legs and started to type up a text to Mari on her phone asking where she was. Asuna then slowly opened up her bag, revealing frog Tadashi in a clear box without a lid. Asuna looked both way before she took the box out of the bag and looked down to her frog brother.

"If we're lucky, you'll be brought back to normal soon." Asuna reassured him, though the frog didn't appear to have any idea what she was saying. Staring at the frog who was vacantly staring into space reminded Asuna of just how strange this whole situation was. While she still didn't feel particularly guilty for being so nonchalant about the situation, she had to admit she probably would've been much more surprised if this was a couple of months ago.

"Hopefully you has no memory of being a frog once you're back to your regular self." Asuna said to the frog before Mari arrived at the class room. Mari waved to her and the two of them walked into the room together.

Mari drew the blinds to the class windows down and Asuna locked the door before putting Tadashi on the desk. Mari walked over to the frog and stood a few feet away from it while Asuna took a seat between them on a high chair.

"I'm going to assume you got some tips from your mom on changing him back?" Asuna asked as she pressed her fist against her cheek.

Mari shook her head once, her resolute attitude only annoying Asuna, who narrowed her eyes at her and said," Then why are we here? If you haven't learned anything to change him, then it'll make no difference to try today."

"But this is my fault and if can't fix my own mistakes then...then I don't deserve these powers!" Mari declared her tone firm as she set her gaze on the frog," If I can change him into a frog as easily as I did, then I should be able to change him back right?"

"Yeah, but you couldn't remember?" Asuna said flatly, but her words seemed to have fallen on deaf ears since Mari was already trying out her powers again.

Several attempts were made in getting Tadashi back to normal, but just like last time, nothing seemed to work. Though Asuna was already growing tired of lounging around, having a feeling no progress would've been made today, Mari was persistent and continued working away, even if all her attempts were fruitless. Mari could feel herself growing frustrated but had no desire to give up and instead tried to clear her mind.

 _"You're acting like this is way harder than it already is..."_ Mari thought to herself as she pressed her eyes shut _," This time, he will change back to normal!"_

"Whoa, look what happened!" Asuna cried out, startling Mari a bit. Mari opened her eyes, hoping to see human Tadashi perched on the desk and back to his regular self but instead all she saw was the frog, with his eyes shut.

"He fell asleep." Asuna stated in an amused tone while Mari took a deep breath.

"So, having said that, the meeting is adjourned. I hope to hear some responses from you all." Hayase said to the student council members as they all rose from their seats," If you're interested in the position be sure to let me, Kiriko or Tadashi know by our next meeting."

Everyone was flooding out into the halls, but Hayase had Misato and Shina stay behind. Kiriko inspected the halls, to make sure nobody was lingering around and shut the door, gesturing at the front seats for Shina and Misato to sit on. Both of them followed her lead, with very different expressions on their faces.

 _"Are we being lectured?"_ Misato thought as he looked towards Hayase and Kiriko, his heart skipping a beat _," Shina I can understand, but why do I need to be here? I've never been her accomplice in any of our student council activities even though we're in the same home room. "_

"On dearest me, please don't tell me we're getting let go!" Shina said in an overly dramatic voice as she raised her hand to her forehead," I understand that these meetings are tough on you guys but please, anything but this~! We haven't done anything to deserve this~! But...that's obviously not why we're here, is it?"

Kiriko coughed awkwardly then politely chuckled as she met eyes with Shina saying," No, neither of you are in trouble or being asked to resign from your positions. As a matter of fact, it's actually the opposite."

Misato and Shina exchanged glances, while Hayase continued from where Kiriko left off.

"So we were thinking that if we wanted anyone to succeed us as president and vice-president, it should be you guys! Both of you have displayed great problem-solving skills, you get along well with everyone, you're both also quite dedicated when it comes to our work and we think you're ready."

"Not only that, but student council president would look really good on a resume or when you're applying to universities within the next year." Kiriko reminded them, with Hayase nodding in agreement," Of course, it's really up to you guys though. If you feel you'd rather focus more on your studies or something this upcoming year, then it's alright."

Both Misato and Shina fell silent for a few moments and the two third-years in the room gave them a few moments to think. Just then, a deafening shriek was unleashed in the halls of the schools, startling the four of them. Kiriko fell her stomach turn, that scream sounded like it belonged to Mari. Kiriko impulsively darted towards the door and was about to run in the direction the scream came from, but her path was obstructed by a little family of frogs in the middle of the hall. Unlike the Tadashi frog, these frogs seemed more active and were jumping around the halls carelessly. Watching them jump made Kiriko feel squeamish and so, she shut the door on them. Her back was leaning against the door and her fellow council members looked at her suspiciously.

"What did you see out there?" Hayase asked as he took a stand from his seat and walked over towards Kiriko. Kiriko tried to protest, but Hayase simply walked past her and stood outside of the class. He was at a loss of words as he stared at the frog family jumping about.

"Frogs..." Hayase said, a blank look in his eye as he stared at the frogs in the hall.

 _"Damn it, I really didn't want him seeing this."_ Kiriko thought to herself as she tried pulling back her frog-hating friend into the classroom. Kiriko then led him over towards the teacher's desk and had him stand in front of it, though he didn't look Kiriko in the eye.

"Are you good?" Kiriko asked as she kneeled slightly with Hayase nodding in response and coming back to his senses," _I have a bad feeling that Mari had something to do with this. I should go to try help her out."_

As Kiriko inspected Hayase for a few moments to make sure he was ok, she failed to notice Shina sneak out of the class to see what was going on. The blonde shut the door quietly and discovered even more frogs than Kiriko and Hayase, though she was as frightened as the two of them.

Grinning from ear to ear, she shouted out," Misato, check this out! There's a bunch of escaped frogs out here!"

Misato sighed, not believing her for a second until he heard an echo of croaks coming from outside the classroom. The croaks weren't stopping and so, Misato walked outside to find Shina sitting down next to the frog family.

"Aren't they cute?" Shina gushed as she held one up to Misato's face, who only grimaced at the sight of it and took a step back, shaking his head in response. Shina tried petting it a bit more, but then the frog leapt out of her hands. Shina reached her arm out for it, but it only hopped away.

"No come back, I love you!" Shina cried out as she ran for the frog.

"Misato, please go after her." Kiriko advised as she entered the hallway," I'm going to check the science lab and see what might've happened in there."

"But what about Hayase?" Misato asked her.

"He'll be completely fine once the frogs clear out," Kiriko reassured before she ran in the opposite direction of Shina.

Kiriko ran at break-neck speed towards the Science lab, skidding to a stop once she reached it. Strangely enough, there weren't as many frogs here as there was in the halls further from the room, and knowing that these frogs were probably more lively than Tadashi frog had Kiriko feeling uneasy.

"Damn it Mari, how did you manage to make more frogs instead of changing Tadashi back?" A voice that sounded like Asuna's shouted from inside the classroom," Wouldn't that take more energy to do?"

Kiriko walked into the room quietly, finding a family of frogs sitting on the desk, with a familiar lazy frog in Asuna's hands. Upon seeing the Tadashi frog, Kiriko drew out a sigh of relief and walked over to the two of them.

"What happened?" Kiriko asked, feigning a calm tone as she stared at the Tadashi frog in Asuna's hands. At this point, she already had a good idea of what happened, but Kiriko felt it wouldn't hurt to hear their side of the story. Mari appeared frantic, trying to make sure the frog she had on the desk wouldn't hop away while Asuna spoke for her.

"Mari wanted to try her hand and fixing Tadashi again but...things didn't go as planned." Asuna explained as she gestured to the frogs on the desk," Oh and few of them escaped too."

Bounce sat at the top of the school, legs crossed as she relished in the screams she heard from inside. They kept coming one after the other, it had been awhile since Bounce had seen something like this. Only problem was, she wasn't the cause of it. She didn't even know why everyone seemed to be in such peril. With no sign of any other Asperity member around or a Defective loose off it's chain, Bounce only grew more curious of what was happening inside. So, she stepped off the rooftop and disappeared into the school.

She reappeared in the halls and looked around curiously, seeing nothing but a set of frogs on her path. Bounce tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, in sheer disbelief that this was the cause behind everyone's terror. Bounce knelt down before the group of frogs, staring at them as they puffed their little chests in and out. The smallest frog hopped forward, stared at Bounce for a long while, then licked it's eyeball.

"Gross." Bounce concluded as she stood back up and stretched herself out," So, these are the culprits? Earthlings can't get any more embarrassing than this."

Bounce's train of thought came to a crash when she head the sound of a fist pounding against a wall. Bounce jumped slightly and then turned around to find a student in low spirits as he turned around and slid down against the wall.

"All my hard work for nothing, why can't they be bothered to appreciate all I've done for student council?" The student, first-year Osashi, said to himself as he quietly opened his bag," They see me as a child, they don't want me running for president when their sight are already set on Misato and Shina."

From his bag, he pulled out a very small plush monkey and squeezed it in his hands, feeling guilty at first, and then humiliated in his own actions.

"What am I saying, I am a child for feeling helpless and relying on you to make me feel better." Osashi said as he hurled the plush to the opposite end of the hallway.

Bounce walked over to the plush and picked it up, before setting her gaze on Osashi, who didn't even seem to be the slightest bit scared of her, assuming she was just some third-year delinquent he never met until now.

"This a nice plush, mind if I make use of it?" Bounce asked him.

Kiriko and Mari gave themselves the task of collecting as many frogs around the school as they could while Asuna was stuck inside the classroom watching over Tadashi. The two of them had been gone for a while now and with nothing but a pair of medium-sized boxes to catch the frogs, things weren't looking very good for them. Asuna then looked down at the frog, wondering when was the last time she was forced to be with her brother like this.

She was growing impatient but just then, she heard the familiar cry of a Defective from outside the school and immediately rushed to the windows to see what was going on. She found a giant yellow and tan monkey Defective screaming and running around the school making a giant mess of things and scaring away the students.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Asuna groaned as she ran out of the classroom, just before realizing she still had Tadashi in her hands. She sighed and looked down at him, knowing he'd probably stay put but not be sure of just where to hide him.

Shina then appeared in the hallway, scouring it in search of the frog from before and not paying any attention to Asuna.

"Where did you go?" Shina whined with a pout while examining the halls.

"Hey weirdo, mind holding this for me?" Asuna asked while placing the frog into Shina's hands. Shina didn't argue, not even sure of what exactly Asuna was doing. Asuna left moments later and before Shina even realized it, she had Tadashi in her hands.

"Have we met before?" Shina casually asked him as she leaned in closer.

The Defective was hard to control, but once Bounce realized there wasn't any getting through to it, she simply let the Defective do as it pleased as watched it wreak terror on the school. She exhaled a breath of relief and watched the Defective do as it pleased, until it got it's arm tied against a nearby tree from a flaming ring. Bounce groaned, she didn't even want to look in the direction of where the ring came from, already knowing who threw it.

"Always conveniently showing up when you're not wanted. Lemme guess, you were the ones behind the frog outbreak at this school?" Bounce asked irritatedly.

The three Cures, minus Bubbly who assured them she'd come as fast as she could, stood before the Defective ready to fight. Fantasy's cheeks tinted pink, she really didn't want to think about the frog influx and how she left all those frogs unattended.

"A couple of frogs is nothing compared to what you've done!" Teddy reminded her as she darted towards the Defective with her hands in front of herself," Pretty Cure, Vigilant Ember!" The Defective uprooted the tree it was stuck to and launched the tree towards Teddy. Teddy ducked but she barely dodged it and looked towards the direction the tree was heading. It landed against the school and thankfully didn't cause much damage. Suddenly, Teddy was hit with a tree smaller than the one before and was flat the ground with sapling on top of her. Thankfully, it didn't weigh too much but the impact of the tree flying towards her did hurt more than expected.

The Defective laughed wildly as it watched Teddy fighting to get back up, not even noticing Cure Dolly and Fantasy running towards it. The two Cures thought they had the upper hand since the Defective wasn't paying them any attention and only wanted to laugh at Teddy struggling to her feet, but it appeared that even while distracted, it was still unpredictable in its movements. The Defective slammed one foot on the ground, holding it's stomach as sides started to hurt and almost squished Cure Dolly in the process. Dolly barely made it out unscathed but now a lot more cautious in where she stepped around the Defective. But even with caution, she already knew the Defective was sporadic and not being certain of where her next misstep would be made her grow anxious.

Dolly tried a reevaluation the situation to figure from a different standpoint what could work against this Defective. Dolly then noticed something about the Defective, and started to watch it even closer to get a better idea of what she could do.

 _"It was probably made from a stuffed animal, but unlike the Defective from before...This one probably didn't divide its Patchwork Heart with its owner."_ Dolly thought to herself. The Defective's laughter was slowly dying down, but then, it got hit straight in the face by a stream of water. The Defective shook it's head clean and glared towards the newcomer who attacked it.

"Monkeying around and laughing at my friend is majorly unacceptable!" Bubbly declared, standing on top of a lamp post," You'll be sorry for messing with us!"

The Defective wasn't pleased to see another member to the team and got serious about fighting as it ran towards them.

Back inside of the school, Misato was in a panic looking for the rest of the escaped frogs since Kiriko and Mari requested him to do so and search for Shina. At this point, he didn't care what happened to Shina but if a bunch of leftover frogs appeared in the classroom Hayase was residing in, he'd feel terrible for not doing this job right.

"Good grief, it would've been nice to know how many frogs have been let loose." Misato grumbled to himself as he walked through the halls. He managed to rally up as many as he could and placed them inside the science lab, but he kept a sharp eye out just in case he missed one.

While Misato was looking for more frogs, he heard the cries of the Defective from outside and jumped from the sound. His heartbeat got quicker and he looked towards the closest window. His face was pressed against the window looking into a classroom where he could see the Defective from the room's window. There was somebody in there too, sitting on the teacher's desk, but the Defective shadowed them, making it hard to make out who it was.

"What the heck is that thing?!" Misato asked as he pressed his face closer against the window.

Cure Fantasy jumped up in front of the window and the Defective swung a bench it found towards her, but it missed and instead the bench was flung into the classroom windows.

Misato then shouted to the person in the class room,"Hey, watch out! You're gonna get-!"

As the student looked towards the bench flying towards them, the bench crashed into the window, but instead of the bench falling into the class room and the glass shattering, the bench and the shattered glass turned into a multitude of light blue and teal stars.

Misato stood there, eyes wide in pure shock and couldn't process what just happened. It was hard enough to figure out how a giant animate monkey plush came into being, but to arrive at a logical explanation for that? Misato slowly removed himself from the window and kept his hands pressed against it, before he glanced at the room number.

"Isn't this...?" Misato trailed off, shaking his head vigorously in disbelief.

Dolly leapt up high before the Defective, but the Defective was quick and grabbed her in an instant. Dolly writhed around in its grip for a few moments and the Defective smiled upon the sight of her misfortune. He squished her a little but then, she bursted into a mass of little pink and purple bows. The Defective looked at his now empty hand in confusion before realizing it had been tricked. The real Dolly crept up behind him, thinking she had an opening, but the Defective saw her from the corner of its eye and swung the back of its hand towards her, resulting in her getting flung a few feet backwards.

Dolly crashed into a set of shrubs surrounding the school wall and Fantasy came to her aid, helping her lead Cure to her feet. Dolly was furious now, dusting off her dress in a huff as she shouted,

"That hurts you know!"

The Defective then began to laugh madly while repeating Dolly, only making her feel undermined. The Defective started to hold its sides again from all the laughter.

"Of course I know it hurts!" The Defective shouted to her vehemently," That's exactly how Osashi threw me when he got mad at me without reason!"

"Osashi? As...our noisy first-year on student council?" Dolly said to herself quietly before she studied the Defective. Osashi never really seemed like the type to keep a plush toy at his side, let alone own one at his age, but it wasn't like Dolly knew him all that well. But, it did seem in character for him to get frustrated like this with elections coming up. Dolly took a deep breath and decided to take a new approach with this Defective.

Teddy and Bubbly stood at the sides of the Defective, waiting for a signal to attack, but Dolly gestured at them to desist. The two of them looked at her worriedly but did as told. Dolly then walked up cautiously towards the Defective, who also seemed suspicious of her.

Once she got close enough, her voice turned gentle and soft as she said," You know that Osashi has probably been going through a rough time right?"

The Defective wore a look of surprise on its face as it said in its defense," But that doesn't give him any right to take it out on me! I know better than anyone else that Osashi deserves to be student body president but he's acting like I'm to blame!"

"I'm sure he didn't mean to, he's always been a little hot-headed, hasn't he?" Dolly reasoned, though the Defective didn't seem convinced," He always feel regretful when he takes things too far, he's probably feeling guilty about what he did to you."

"Don't you want to see your friend again?" Dolly asked him in a concerned tone, with the Defective nodding in response.

"Mr. Monkey, right now you and Osashi are being manipulated by Asperity to do their bidding. If you allow us to, we can fix all of this and you can be with Osashi again." Dolly said to him quietly," Do you trust us?"

The Defective nodded and so, the girls conjured up their scepters and their toy toppers. Once they were inserted into the scepters, the Cures outfits changed.

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!" The four of them called out.

They held out their scepters up high and shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"

The atmosphere around them turned white and the Defective was at peace as a mass of shimmering lights surrounded it, reverting it into its original form.

Dolly walked towards the toy and held it in her hands, surprised by how small it was. She looked around for Bounce, but it appeared that she had already taken her leave. The girls reversed their transformations and started to look for Osashi, whom they suspected to be outside.

"You too, huh? Man, it was insanely vivid. Felt like I was out for days." A voice that sounded like Tadashi's said in the direction of the school doors. The four girls turned around and discovered Tadashi, Osashi, and Shina walking out of the school together.

"I can't really remember anything from my dream." Osashi said as he rubbed his head tenderly," It was kinda like being trapped in a void."

"Tadashi, you're ok!" Kiriko cried out as she and Mari ran towards him. He seemed confused by their concern, and awkwardly chuckled while they took a close look at him, just to be sure. Asuna narrowed her eyes, trying to determine what triggered the reversal of Tadashi's transformation. She then turned to Shina and stared at her suspiciously.

"Where's the frog I left you with?" Asuna asked her

"What can I say, I left him with the rest of his frog family." Shina answered with a shrug," He didn't need to be with me."

Asuna didn't like that answer, but she put the case to rest, only feeling relief now that Tadashi was no longer a frog.

"Hayase, you're home late from school and you didn't even call me?" Hayase's mother, Hana, berated as Hayase stepped foot into the house.

Hayase just shrugged carelessly in response and said," Sorry got caught up with some school work."

Hana pressed her lips shut, wanting to argue but not wanting to have things get out of hand. She was already in a bad mood and didn't want to make things worse. She brushed her hand into Hayase's hair and noticed something off, though she chose to say nothing of it.

"Go wash up, I'm getting dinner ready." Hana said to him, leading Hayase to head upstairs.

Once he was out of earshot, Hana quickly dialed a number up on her phone. She impatiently waited as the dial tone droned on and looked up towards the staircase. Once the person she called answered, she wasted no time in telling them her issue.

"Yes, I know what time it is over there, just hear me out right now!" Hana yell-whispered into the phone," That son of yours Seal is breaking again! Ever since those new Pretty Cure girls have been appearing around town, I get more and more nervous of...Excuse me? I am not making a big deal of this, I'm only trying to keep him safe, you of all people should understand! He's also starting to look like you know who...you don't think they'll notice?"

In Hayase's room, a bunch of old toy rockets he had stored away in his closet were floating up in the air around him on his bed. Hayase laid there quietly, unsure of what to feel about this accomplishment. His concentration was broken, leading the rockets to plummet to the ground as his mother shouted for him saying that dinner was ready.


	31. Hijacked memories

Jack and Domino stood in an open field in the human world, completely free of their tasks from Asperity and Lilith's orders. If only this freedom could've lasted them forever. Neither of them wanted to admit, at least not while they were at Asperity but, neither of them could stand being a part of Asperity any longer. Domino chose to bottle up how he felt, deciding that it would've been hopeless for him trying to change things, but for Jack, he felt the exact opposite. Domino knew better than anyone else that Jack may've been an impulsive person, but Jack knew his intuition wouldn't ever fail him, and today was no exception. Even if Lilith was their own blood, she was heading down a path they could no longer follow, at least, not if they wanted to stay as they once were.

Jack looked around the field, making sure that they weren't being spied on by Rubix or anything. The coast was clear, not a single member from Asperity aside from Domino could be found and they could finally get to work.

"Alright, you said you were sure that function you had installed into you was gonna work, so we're good to go?" Jack asked expectantly, though Domino wasn't as certain as him.

"Jack, it only said standard reset, I don't know how much reverting it will do." Domino protested as he held his forearm where his little control panel was placed up close," It's not very precise, so I don't know if taking the risk will be worth it."

Domino held his hand out towards a single flower in the field and pressed a sequence of buttons on the control panel. He then held out his hand wider and a hole opened in his palm, letting an electric blue, white and black ray of light shoot out of it towards the flower. The flower was gone and in its place was a little seed. Domino walked over to it and picked up the seed to show it to Jack. Jack appeared to be impressed but that wasn't what Domino had intended.

"Do you want to end up like this?" Domino questioned as he held the seed closer to Jack's face.

Jack took the seed from together and squeezed it in his paw as he said," It'd beat staying at Asperity, that's for sure."

Domino fell quiet, he was well aware of how Jack was feeling towards Asperity these days and he didn't blame him for it since he shared those feelings. The animosity, the purest feeling of betrayal when they were told they weren't good enough despite all their efforts. Domino told himself multiple times that it was to be expected, but the more he said it, the less he believed it.

"Do you think anybody would be happy being reduced to this?" Jack asked as he gestured to his body," Domino, please...try it for my sake."

Domino nodded once in response and stretched his arm out in front of Jack, keying in the same sequence as before. Domino turned his head slightly, afraid of what he might see in Jack's place once the ray was shot. The ray hit Jack dead on and a puff of white smoke appeared, enveloping him whole in the process. Domino then heard coughing from inside the smoke and rushed over to Jack to see how much he had 'reset'.

The smoke cleared up and standing there was the same old human looking Jack, looking just like he did pre-modification with his fair skin, black and red hair and matching clothes, though his signature red vest had gone missing. Jack tried to fan of the smoke away with his hand before he took in his surroundings curiously. Domino grew nervous, watching Jack inspect the field as if he had no idea how he got here. It was nice to see the reset went as planned for the most part, but still, something seemed amiss with Jack.

Jack then set his gaze on Domino and walked closer towards him, a look of pure amusement and wonder in his crimson eyes as he glided his fingers against Domino's control panel.

"Whoa, is this one of those A.I things?" Jack asked, though it didn't look like he was asking Domino as he started pressed random buttons on his control panel.

"Jack, don't you know who am I?" Domino asked as he brushed his 'hand' on to Jack's shoulder.

Jack gave an awkward chuckle, leaning in closer to inspect Domino some more so he could get some clues to who he was. After a few moments of scrutinizing Domino, he drew out a deep sigh and shook his head.

"Sorry, not much of a gear head. Can't find your model number or any specs either..." Jack answered as he crossed his arms," So...my name is Jack?"

"You didn't already know that?" Domino questioned, his tone growing anxious," Exactly how much do you know about yourself?"

Jack looked at the ground for a few moments and started to think about it, though it was clear that he was having some trouble with remembering as he remained silent. If nothing came to head in an instant, then it was certain; Jack's memories were missing.

"If you can't remember, it's fine." Domino assured as he waved his 'hand' in dismissal," Your name is indeed Jack and..."

 _"It'd beat staying at Asperity, that's for sure."_

"...You work part-time at a convenience store! You're in the middle of a gap year, you plan to return to your studies of warehouse logistics in the fall and right now...all you want is to be a free spirit, you're a handful, but your heart's in the right place." Domino explained to him. His insides writhed with guilt since he had nothing to back up his claims, but...Jack had always been somewhat easy to fool, so hopefully he wouldn't catch on. Though, a part of him hoped that Jack wouldn't believe him, that his memories would return the second he heard some false claims about his life.

"I see..." Jack said plainly as he walked around Domino," So...are you my A.I.?"

"What? No. I...you asked me to part ways with you when this time came." Domino explained briskly," You said you wanted to be on your own for a bit. So if you don't mind, I'll be taking my leave."

"Oh ok, take care I guess." Jack said as Domino disappeared, returning to Asperity.

Jack looked around the empty field, devoid of any other people and stuffed his hands in his pockets while trying to determine which way to go.

"Guess I should've asked him where my house was..." Jack said to himself as he looked around the field.

The four Cures were gathered in Kiriko's bedroom, all sitting at the her while Kiriko was drawing notes on to a little white board she recently bought. The three of them thought it to be a tad unnecessary, but Kiriko wanted to write everything she knew down just to bring a sense of organization to herself. In times like these, it really felt like she was grasping at straws for some order but she persisted and wrote as much information as she could.

"She's writing awfully fast, I wonder if her hand's cramping?" Sophie asked the group quietly, with Nova sitting on her lap.

"She's smudging everything as she goes..." Asuna pointed out, squinting her eyes at the board to make out what Kiriko was writing," It must be weird being left-handed."

"Ok, so now that we've seen at least twice now...I think this might be something we'll have to expect from now on." Kiriko said as she faced the group," These talking Defectives."

"The first case was particularly unique, because we got the chance to speak with the child and his toy together..." Rani reminded them with the group nodding in agreement.

 _Kotaro was in tears, from both the joy of seeing Arthur again and the guilt of losing him in the first place. Kotaro hugged Arthur as tight as he could, with Arthur trying his best to return the hug. Kiriko had never seen anything quite like it, and the sight of it warmed her heart. But, now wasn't the time to gush at a scene like this. Kiriko wanted answers._

 _"How long has Arthur been able to talk to you?" Kiriko asked Kotaro in a low voice," I promise I won't tell anyone else."_

 _Kotaro looked apprehensive, taking a small step backwards as he held on to Arthur tighter. Kiriko tried wearing a reassuring look on her face, but it didn't do any good in convincing Kotaro otherwise._

 _"Kotaro, it's ok. You can trust her." Arthur affirmed as he looked up towards Kotaro._

 _Kotaro's head shot down to Arthur who never once spoke around anyone except him until now. Kotaro pursed his lips and stared at Kiriko for a few long moments until he took a deep breath and nodded a single nod._

 _"It's been a few months..." Kotaro explained to Kiriko, inviting her to take a seat underneath the slide with him. Kiriko didn't want this conversation to take longer than it needed to, since Kai tagged along to pick up their little brother from the park. Kiriko looked over to Kai, who was chatting away on the phone with someone. They appeared to be quite invested in their call, so a couple extra minutes with Kotaro probably would've gone unnoticed by them. So, Kiriko did her best in taking a seat with him until the miniature slide._

 _"I've had Arthur ever since I was little, Kai helped me name him. Anyways, one day when I was playing with him, Arthur just suddenly came to life! But...I haven't told anyone about it yet, I'm worried they might try to take Arthur away if he's found out. Not even Kai knows about it." Kotaro said, with both of them glancing towards Kai, who was still on the phone._

"My suspicions of Kotaro being Kai's adoptive brother and being an orphan from the kingdom were proven wrong. I thought even if Kotaro didn't know how Arthur came into being, his Patchwork Heart would've acted on its own and divided itself with Arthur but...it's too far-fetched. Kotaro also had no sense of magic within him plus...he does look an awful lot like Kai." Kiriko explained, though even she felt unsatisfied with this conclusion.

"But...I thought you could only divide your Patchwork Heart in the kingdom?" Sophie asked the two fairies," What makes Kotaro so different?"

"And...Osashi was a different case, right?" Mari questioned after a few moments, with Kiriko nodding in response.

"Osashi's plush was easier to brainwash for Asperity, it's probably because it had yet to own half of Osashi's Patchwork Heart." Kiriko stated, leaning against the wall next to the mini white board," This new breed of Defectives are bothering me...they're mysterious and I don't know how they could be appearing so suddenly."

Kiriko glanced at her whiteboard again, feeling her insides contort knowing that these sentient, more aware Defectives were a sign that Asperity was getting stronger. It wasn't only the Defective that signaled this and knowing that their opponents had undergone so many changes in their organization made her worry that they wouldn't be able to keep up. Kiriko uncapped the dry-erase marker in her hand and started erasing some of stuff she had written on the board, wondering if her fellow Cures shared the same concerns as her but unwilling to voice these thoughts in case of making them as unnerved as she was.

As if reading Kiriko's mind, Asuna then said," Well even if they started making stronger Defectives, it's not like we haven't grown either."

Asuna did make a good point, with the other Cures nodding in response. Kiriko looked at Asuna for a few moments, a small smile appearing on her face before she started writing away on the board. Once Kiriko was finished writing the two-word phrase, she took a step to the side to let everyone see the board.

"That's right, we've still got the Patchwork Mode." Kiriko said to the team," It may not feel like much now...but, it's a big accomplishment and it shows how far we've come. It won't be long until our last fight, so we can't have any doubts. Not anymore."

Kiriko then glanced outside and noticed it was started to get dark. Since she was going to be home alone for the rest of the evening, Kiriko considered having the rest of the Cures stay for a little longer for dinner, even though that wasn't something she'd normally do. It would've been more an act out of courtesy. But, Asuna stood up from her seat and stretched out her arms as she said,

"It's getting late so I'm going to head out." Asuna said to the group, taking Nova from Sophie and gathering her things. Sophie and Mari followed suite and start to getting ready to take their leave with her, letting Kiriko feel a sense of relief knowing that she could have some time to herself before the day came to an end. Once they all collected their bags and got their coats from downstairs, the three of them left Kiriko and Rani together. As soon as the girls left, Kiriko let out a yawn she had been holding inside of her for a while and marched into the kitchen to get started on dinner.

Jack had been walking through the streets of towns for hours now, from sunset to dawn, he hadn't even thought about taking a break until he found his home, which he knew at this point would've been damn near impossible if he didn't have his memories. But, there was strange, but enticing tranquility in the dead of night he found roaming the streets without direction. He was sure this was a sensation he had never experienced in his life, and a part of him wanted to feel it again. But for now, he'd have to hold out until the evening and persist through the streets cluttered with people and their idle chatter.

If there was anything he learned about himself during this time without his memories, it was that he prefered the night and all the quiet it had to offer. The morning, despite being the superior in terms of temperature, was a mission to get through with his constant bumping into people and getting lost from every other misstep. It looked like he strayed away from the neighbourhoods and was in some form of shopping district. The shopping district was hard to walk in, with people crowding around each and every stall, and wasn't a place that one could easily navigate through. Everyone around Jack was not only a hindrance in him finding his home, but they were also doing a good job at making him feel a bit lonely. During the night it was easy to find an odd sense of peace in the empty streets but when you're surrounded by strangers having fun in each other's company, it brings an unexpected feeling of isolation.

They all looked like they were in good spirits, laughing and chatting amongst each other as they wandered through the streets. Jack narrowed his eyes at a group of guys, wondering if he had done something like that before he lost his memories.

He then saw a small crowd of people circling around something but he didn't have any clue as to what it was. He heard some high-energy music blaring from a speaker that sounded like it came from inside the circle. So out of curiosity, he squeezed through the crowd until he made it to the front.

In the center was a girl with black and teal hair and loose clothes dancing. She wore a great big smile on her face as she danced but had yet to make eye-contact with anyone from her audience. Then, she looked up and her gaze met Jack's, who was completely entranced by her movements. She winked to him and continued dancing. Jack waved to her, but he didn't get her attention since she was too in tune with the music. Jack was determined to have her notice him again so, as her back was turned, he slowly started dancing towards her until he was beside the girl. Jack wasn't very good at dancing though, flailing his lanky arms with no sense of rhythm and wobbling his body around as if trying to mimic the girl. The girl bumped into him when dancing, and then turned around to see Jack dancing by her side. The girl giggled but continued dancing.

Some people cheered for the both of them, but most weren't pleased with Jack's appearance since it was clear that he had no clue what he was doing. But luckily for him, the girl didn't seem to care much and danced having Jack at her side without complaint. The crowd died down after a little bit and soon enough, it was just Jack and the girl. Jack hadn't improved much from when he when he started and just danced mindlessly while the girl took a little break.

"I like your style!" The girl exclaimed as she took a giant swig from her water bottle," I don't think I've seen you around here before, new in town?"

Jack stopped dancing abruptly and thought for a few moments about how to answer.

He then smiled to her sheepishly and said," I guess so."

The girl then stood up and held out her hand and introduced herself to him.

"I'm Takara, and you are?" She questioned.

Jack eyed her hand curiously but gladly shook it a few moments after saying, " I'm Jack. It's nice to meet to you."

"Well Jack, since you're new in town, did you want to explore the city a little bit with me? I know tons of great places to eat and all the best parks." Takara offered cheerfully.

" _Why doesn't this even feel familiar...?"_ Jack thought to himself as Takara grinned. During these past few hours he was met with some familiar sensations, but none of them were pleasant ones. It made him curious about what kinda life he former one was, but knowing that he had the chance to do something fun instead of drudge through these crowded streets gave him a sense of excitement. And so, Takara took the lead and showed Jack around town. The two of them walked around for a while and during all this walking, Jack noticed that Takara was much more fit than him, who longed for a break but was overruled by his curiosity.

So to take his mind off how tired he was feeling, Jack studied Takara for a bit. Her hair fell to the small of her back, dyed a very bright teal at the ends. Her eyes were large and bright, they reminded him of the sun. But one of the more prominent things about Takara's appearance was that fashion of hers. A baggy green sleeveless hoodie hung loose against her and a pair of yellow shorts that reached her knees swished around with her each and every move. The only thing on her that wasn't bright in colour was the black skin-tight tank top that clung to her body. Jack may not have had his memories in tact, but if he knew she dressed in a way that would catch anyone's eye with all those bright colours. But they suited her, and Jack kinda liked how it made her look extra bright.

Takara eventually stopped in front of dessert cafe, but as soon as Jack laid eyes on it, he had this instinctive sense of revulsion flow within him. He only stared at the cafe sign for a few moments, his nose curled at the cloying scents trailing out of the cafe.

"Not that big of a sweet tooth?" Takara asked, with Jack shaking his head in response," That's cool, I've got a backup place down the road."

Takara ended up leading them to a pizza joint painted bright red, yellow and green. There was a sign with a huge pizza on it on top of the restaurant, and the door was open so the scent of freshly baked pizzas was hard to miss, but the thing that single-handedly caught Jack's attention was the sign that read "Happy Hour: 40% off of our spiciest pizzas!"

"Oh my god!" Jack shouted upon reading the sign, before Takara dragged him into the restaurant.

"Whoever eats the last slice wins?" Takara proposed, with Jack nodding excitedly in response.

Their time at the restaurant was well-spent, with the both of them sharing the largest, spiciest pizza they could stomach. Jack had to give up after four slices, but Takara continued eating away without any struggle. When she reached the final slice though, her stomach was starting to hurt and Jack could tell by the face she was making. So, before she was able to grab the last slice as she reached out for it, Jack held on to her arm and took the pizza with his free hand. Takara was surprised, since Jack hadn't touched the pizza in a while.

Jack hesitated for a moment but finally devoured the final slice and downed a whole glass of water afterwards. He was partly doing this to impress her, but also because he didn't want to see her push herself. Jack slammed the glass on to the table and declared in a slightly raspy voice,

"I win."

Takara opened her eyes wide, in complete shock and Jack rested his head against the top of the table, ready to pass out.

Takara then pointed a finger at Jack and said," You sneaky bastard! You pretended to tap out so you could prepare yourself for the last slice! Well-played though, so, whatever you want, consider it yours, as prize for getting the final slice."

"Anything I want?" Jack repeated in bewilderment, with Takara nodding in response.

Takara nodded to reaffirm and Jack wasted no time in telling her," I want to spend to spend more time with you."

Takara looked at him blankly for a few moments, not able to quite process what he said at first. She then chuckled, Jack's naive nature and bluntness was almost endearing to her and so, she nodded happily and stood up while extending her hand out to him.

"I'd love to." Takara declared as Jack took her hand," Come on, let's go to my place."

Domino was sitting in a room by himself at Asperity, a loading screen in the place of the usual domino tiles on his face. Inside a room fully devoid of noise and other people, Domino was free to go into simulation mode, a function he had yet to try out but had piqued his interests earlier.

In the simulation, Domino was back to his human-looking self and was lounging at some kind of bar, goggles on as he downed a shot. It was his fifth shot this night. The simulation was much more real than he expected, feeling the after burn that came with each shot he took. Domino shuddered as just folded his arms on top of the bar's table and drew out a sigh. The music in the bar is soft, but it's a tune he recognizes without fail.

"Underneath the blue sky, the wind blows toward the future, as if embracing the rays of the sun~" He sang, his words slurred as he played with the empty shot glass, cheeks slightly tinted red.

Out of concern, the bartender asked if he's had a rough day.

"More like a rough existence." Domino responded, trying to make light of his issues as he forced out a chuckle, having yet another shot.

"I feel you, man." The bartender says as he shakes a mixing bottle," We live in some rough times, but nobody ever wants to admit it. Everyone says we've came a long way but we repeat the same mistakes. It's like one step forward, two steps back."

"Two steps back..." Domino repeated inquisitively," Yes, precisely. We ultimately are doomed to repeat ourselves if we go two steps back! So to make up for it, we should take two extra steps forward!"

The bartender looked a bit confused for a moment and then laughed saying," Yeah, I guess so."

"Tell me, how do you think you'd feel if you were some kind of harbinger of despair, of asperity?" Domino asked him.

The bartender frowned, unsure of how to respond and only shook his head once, though it was hard to tell why. Was it because he didn't understand the question or didn't approve of such an idea? Domino felt unsettled as the simulation disconnected and he returned to his regular settings. Domino could feel his heart sink remembering how he let Jack go for own good. He only hoped for the best for his younger brother, that Jack was getting accustomed to Earth and finding something to make his days worthwhile.

"I still don't understand..." Domino muttered to himself as he stared at the ground," Jack didn't even know what a library was, so how the hell did he know about A.I? Did I...does Jack have new memories to recover? Memories that replace Asperity and us?"

Though it didn't feel like it, Domino knew he ultimately did the right thing and did everything in his power to convince himself so with some avail. Domino had yet to tell anyone from Asperity about Jack's defection and he intended to keep it that way. Nobody really needed to know, at least, nobody except Bounce would've been given the real reason. For all they knew, Jack went out to hunt down the Pretty Cure and was unfortunately defeated for good.

Moments later, as if on cue, Bounce knocked on the already open door and asked if she could enter. Domino nodded and allowed her in. Bounce walked into the room, unfamiliar with it, but it wasn't like she had entered many of the newer rooms here at Asperity.

"Is Jack around?" Bounce asked out of curiosity as she continued to look around the empty room.

Domino took a few moments to respond and then motioned for Bounce to take a seat. Domino then began explaining everything to her from the very beginning.

While Domino told Bounce of what happened to Jack, Rubix was standing outside the room, keeping quiet as she listened in.

Jack was trying on some clothes that Takara lent to him from her older brother since she noticed that his were slightly torn up and worn out. As Jack tried out the clothes in the washroom, he inspected himself in the mirror. He looked at the new clothes donned, a dark red v-neck t-shirt and a pair of charcoal grey shorts. He did like them, but his mind was cluttered with other thoughts right now. Ever since Takara mentioned the words 'older brother' somehow, he felt a bit disoriented. Did he have an older brother too? Did something happen between them that led to him forgetting everything? The more he tried to remember things, the more his head started to hurt. He figured it was best to try waiting for everything to come back to him naturally but even then, he worried about how this would go over with Takara. Not having any idea who he was would make Takara suspicious of him and he really didn't want that. So in the case that Takara wanted to learn more about him, he decided to go with the story that Domino told him.

Jack walked out of the washroom and found Takara lying on her bed texting someone. Takara looked up and smiled, walking over to him to straighten out his clothes. She let her fingers glide across his chest and then she looked up and ran her hand through his hair.

"I've been wondering, is your hair naturally spiky like that?" Takara asked him.

Jack froze up for a second and blurted out," Uh, I think so."

"Then why can I feel the hair gel keeping it in shape?" Takara asked as she slowly removed her hands from Jack's hair," You don't have to lie, I bet your hair looks nice when it's down too. How long has this part been dyed though? It's super bright."

"It's always been like that." Jack answered without thinking, though he wasn't fully sure how he had remembered that. Takara then nodded in understanding, and took his hand to lead him downstairs to watch some movies. Takara turned on her T.V and was picking out a movie to watch, while Jack watched her curiously.

"Takara why do you dance around the streets like?" Jack asked her as she picked out a movie," Do you get money for it?"

Takara shook her head as she inserted a disc into the DVD player saying," Nah, I get something better."

"Something better?" Jack repeated curiously as Takara stood up to sit next to him.

"I get inner peace. It's a passion that makes me feel in touch with a part of myself that I can't always be." Takara explained as she directed her gaze to her lap," It's kinda hard to explain but...I feel there's a part of everyone that we love in ourselves but others don't want to see. Some people don't really care for my style of dancing, but others seem to have fun watching me so I figured...if I can make at least one person smile with my dancing, then I guess I can continue doing it in public. If it wasn't for them, I'd probably stay dancing in my room."

"So Jack...what is it that brings you inner peace, what makes you happy?" Takara asked him.

Jack thought long and hard for a few moments, not wanting to hint at the fact that his memories were missing, though he still wanted to be sincere. A memory flashed through his brain but it was so vague though he was able to feel some form of joy from it. He was chatting with three figures, two of them were female, one was male. He assumed the male to be the older brother figure he was thinking about earlier, but he couldn't remember any of their faces. He felt frustrated with himself even though this was the closest he got to one of his memories.

"I'm happiest with my friends." Jack said softly," I like when we do things together."

Takara smiled, placing her arm around his shoulders as she exclaimed," I see, sounds like you've got some really good friends!"

Jack nodded with a smile on his face though he had a vacant look in his eye, tempted to try thinking hard about those friends he mentioned, he was sure with a bit more concentration he'd remember at least one face. But he knew it wouldn't happen so he returned his attention to Takara and the movie that was starting.

Rubix's ears were still ringing, even though Lilith had yelled at her, Domino and Bounce half an hour ago. Clearly, Rubix still wasn't used to loud sounds or dealing with people who were absolutely furious. It made her angry knowing that she didn't know how else to appease Lilith but to bring Jack back to Asperity, with or without memories.

 _"Jack's disappeared?! There is absolutely no way I'm letting him stay out in the human world!" Lilith decreed as she stomped her foot," The three of you are going to find him and bring him back here. He needs to be reminded that he doesn't get to do as he pleases and he can't just run off like this."_

"I have to be the one to find him, I don't..." Rubix said to herself, her thoughts circling around Domino and Bounce,"...I don't trust those two."

While Jack and Takara were watching the movie, Jack noticed that Takara was getting sleepy, nodding off every few moments and was basically fighting to keep her eyes open at this point. So, Jack paused the movie and let her fall asleep. He didn't mind taking a break from the movie since he wasn't all that into it, so he thought about the events of today, nearly forgetting about the A.I he spoke with the night before.

"I'm certain if I got in contact with him I'd learn everything about myself but...what if he's keeping my past away from me for a good reason?" Jack asked quietly as he looked up to the ceiling," Have I done something wrong in my past? I guess in some ways, it would make sense. But...perhaps this a second chance."

Rubix had been staring through the window of the house for a few minutes, her eyes set on Jack. It was clear that he wasn't feeling like himself, he seemed quite different, but that corruptive magic that flowed out from Jack just like all the other Asperity members was there as always. There was no mistake, it had to be him.

Just then, Rubix appeared into the house and floated in front of Jack, with Jack staring at her in disbelief.

"Whoa, just who the heck are you? Some kinda magician?" Jack questioned though he had this nagging feeling this girl was trouble. She seemed familiar and not for a good reason, and something just told him she had to be connected to his past. Jack lightly shook Takara, keeping his eyes on Rubix.

"You've had your fun, now it's time for you to return to Asperity where you belong." Rubix said imperatively, but Jack didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"Asperity...?" Jack repeated blankly. Again, there was something familiar but still, he couldn't grasp a single memory as hard as he tried. Rubix then landed on to the ground and leaned in closer towards him and then pulled at a gold chain he had underneath his shirt with a locket pendant attached to it. Inside of the locket was a very small black diamond but once Rubix touched it, it was restored to its normal size.

She leaned in until she was face to face with Jack as she said," Don't tell me you forgot about _your family_."

Takara awoke soon enough, and yawned as she said in a groggy, "Jack, what's going on? How did this girl get in here?"

Rubix turned her attention to Takara, but Jack was quick to make sure that her gaze was kept on him, since he didn't want Takara having any part in this. Jack placed his hand on Rubix's forearm and said impatiently,

"Please, I don't know who you are, but you aren't welcomed here. So if you don't mind-"

Rubix yanked her arm away from Jack and held it out in front of him, releasing a black spiraling ring to close around Jack. Jack dropped to his knees, but he wasn't in any physical pain, it was only his head that hurt him. The ring Rubix sent around him was for trying to get him to have his memories restored. Lilith showed her how to do it, but she wasn't sure of how effective the attack would be. She had a feeling Jack didn't lose his memories from a blow to the head and so that only meant the amnesia would've been harder to reverse.

Jack held his head as tight as he could with his eyes pressed shut, all of his former memories flooding back into his brain, reminding him of what kinda of life he once lived. He finally found the recent why none of those things that made him happy from earlier felt familiar, because all he used to do to feel joy was prey on others and hurt them. In his memories, he saw himself smiling at the sight of innocent people in pain but now, watching those memories only hurt him.

The ring disappeared and Jack sat on the floor, his head hung as he fell silent.

"Feeling better?" Rubix asked in a mockingly cheery voice.

After a few very long moments, Jack finally lifted his head, with a smile as he faced Rubix as he said," You know having my memories in tact won't make me wanna go back right? If anything, it makes me want to go back _even less_."

A scowl found its way onto Rubix's face as she held out both her hands towards Jack and flicked them towards him, causing a pair of translucent black, pink and blue cubes to appear and slam him into the nearest wall.

"You insolent brat!" She shouted vehemently as she walked towards him, but Takara stood in her way.

"You're not gonna force him into _anything_ , got it?" Takara said to her sternly, glaring at Rubix and holding her hands out.

The two of them were the same height, staring each other down until an idea came to Rubix. She conjured up a black diamond, and once Jack saw it, his eyes shrunk in fear and he fought to get back up on his feet, with no avail.

"Rubix, don't you dare!" Jack shouted as loud as he could, but his cry fell on deaf ears.

Rubix smiled a little, tossing the black diamond up into the air as she shouted," Corrupt her Patchwork Heart!"

"Takara, get out of the way!" Jack yelled desperately, but the black diamond moved quicker than expected and merged with her Patchwork Heart. Takara dropped to the ground and Jack ran to her aid, desperately trying to wake her up though he knew it wouldn't do much good.

He turned his attention to Rubix and said," This isn't ok anymore, we can't just keep hurting people like this!"

Rubix rolled her eyes and replied with," The only difference between this time and all the others is that it's someone you grew attached to. Can't you see how much of a hypocrite you're being?"

That kept Jack quiet for a few moments, knowing Rubix was right but he didn't want to admit. Jack had done this all the time before, so this shouldn't have been any different. Takara was just like any other victim but this time, there was no way Jack was going to sit around idly and watch her get turned into a Defective. Jack held Takara close to himself, but he knew he didn't have the ability to reverse the corruption, he had never felt so powerless.

"Your heart gets swayed too easily, I don't know why Lilith wanted you back." Rubix said as she set her sights on a koala plush toy sitting on one of the couches. Rubix then disappeared with the koala plush, leaving Jack alone with the unconscious Takara.

"We can't keep getting away with this..." Jack said quietly, shaking with rage as he held Takara close.

Rubix stood atop of nearby building, holding the koala plush up as she said to it," You're going to be my best Defective yet."

"Do your worst, Defective!" Rubix shouted, turning the plush into a ten-foot tall monstrous version of itself.

The Defective was skittish and looked as if it was on the hunt for something, or rather, someone, as it turned its head around madly in every direction. The Defective spun around and surveyed the empty streets it stood in. Anger was boiling up into the Defective, who was shouting madly,

"Where are they? Where are they?!"

The Defective ran away as fast as it could in the opposite direction, while Rubix followed closely behind it.

The Defective ran and ran, diligently dodging cars and people, though it was very focused on finding that something it was wailing about. Rubix was impressed with this Defective and its intense desire to fight, but just then, the two of them found a familiar blue-haired Pretty Cure in civilian form exiting a nearby cafe.

The Defective paid no attention to her, but Rubix skidded to a stop. Kiriko was retrieving her PlayPact and phone, but the Defective was already running off again.

"Your target's right here!" Rubix shouted to the Defective. The Defective then spun around and saw Kiriko holding her PlayPact up high, while cramming herself into a nearby alley so no one would see her transformation.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" She shouted, with a swarm of purple and pink lights enveloping her.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly announced as she jumped in front of the Defective, "I won't let you do as you please!"

The Defective stared down at Dolly for a couple of moments, standing completely still as it examined her from head-to-toe. It suddenly started to run away again, uninterested in any activity with Dolly. Dolly was confused and only ran after it as quickly as she could. But she wasn't able to close the distance between them, so she shouted at it instead.

"Hey, are you supposed to be trying to defeat me?" Dolly shouted to it, her lungs burning from both yelling and running at high-speed.

"Defeat you? I don't care about defeating you!" The Defective shouted as it whipped the back of its hand to Dolly, launching her back a couple of feet," I'm too busy trying to find Takara and her friend to make sure they're ok!"

Dolly stopped running, in part to catch her breath, but also because she couldn't believe the Defective's words.

"You're...looking for someone?" Dolly repeated skeptically while the Defective started to search the streets for the people it was looking for. The Defective nodded vigorously in response, and leaned in close towards Dolly.

"Yes, that rotten woman went and hurt Takara and now her friend has to take care of her! I need to get back home and help them!" The Defective clamoured as it started looking around the streets madly," If only I knew how to get home from here!"

 _"This Defective isn't any good...well, not any good for Asperity."_ Dolly thought to herself as the Defective frantically tried climbing up a building in hopes it would be able find its home from up there.

"Hey, Miss Koala, I have an idea." Dolly said quietly to the Defective, after taking a deep breath," Since you want to see your friends so badly, what if I help you find them? However, I need to help you go back to your normal form, otherwise Asperity will continue trying to have you do their bidding. And you just want to be at Takara's side, right? Are you willing to trust me?"

"Ok! Well, Takara's house is yellow and we live near a cafe with many desserts with a pizza joint that's got the spiciest pizzas in town!" The Defective explained in a rush, as it tried remembering more landmarks to help Dolly," I'm counting on you. I'd do anything to see Takara right now!"

"Hey, you aren't supposed to be siding with her!" Rubix reminded the Defective impatiently from the rooftop of a nearby building," Need I remind you why you were created?"

The Defective cocked it's head towards Rubix, an angered expression appearing on its face once it laid eyes on her. The Defective pointed at Rubix and said,

"You were the one who hurt Takara! You'll be sorry for that!"

Rubix's eyes shrunk in fear, the last thing she would've expected from one of her one creations was for it to turn against her. This Defective wasn't even worth saving since it clearly wasn't capable of fighting, it was a lost cause from the start. Rubix felt ashamed of herself and only disappeared back to Asperity.

The rest of the Toychest Pretty Cure finally arrived at the last minute, the three of them heaving in their breaths as they stood a few feet away from Dolly, who swore she had never seemed them so exhausted in Cure form.

"Nice of you guys to show up..." Dolly said to them as she conjured up her scepters and gestured for the rest of the team to follow suite. Once they all inserted their toy toppers into the scepters, the Cures outfits changed.

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!" The four of them called out.

They held out their scepters up high and shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"

The attack smothered the Defective with an array of bright pastel lights that shimmered so much the Defective probably would've been blinded by them if it stared at it for too long. The Defective reverted to its regular form, falling back on to the ground as a small plush koala.

Domino was using the control panel on his sleeve to detect Jack's presence. He was certain that he was getting close to Jack now with the screen turning a bright red. Jack was found sitting underneath a tree, cross-legged with his gaze directed at the ground. He appeared to be lost in thought, which was admittedly uncharacteristic for him. Jack hadn't even noticed Domino until he sat down in front of him.

"Hey." Jack said, his voice somber as he changed his seating position.

"How have you been?" Domino asked him in a concerned tone as he sat next to him.

"I got my memories back...but...now I really don't want to go back to Asperity." Jack said as he hung his head, with Domino placing his arm around Jack's shoulder," If I try and make a Defective now, it'll only make me feel bad after seeing what happened to Takara. I'm using the negative feelings of someone's little sister, or classmate or...best friend. It was easier in the beginning when...when..."

"When all you had was your own sister and brother, right?" Domino guessed, with Jack nodding in response," If you'd like, I could try to have you lose your memories again."

"No, I don't want to forget this time spent with Takara...I want to stay by her side. And just forgetting won't give me a proper chance to repent for all I've done." Jack responded as he turned to face Domino," Domino, please...I don't have it in me to go back to Asperity. Please, please don't make me go back! Please..."

Domino stood up, glowering down at Jack and staying quiet for a bit.

"Then as of today, it will be reported by I, Domino, that Jack of Asperity has been defeated for good by the Pretty Cure, never to return again." Domino declared with Jack jumping to his feet and hugging him tightly.

"Thank you." Jack said quietly, before he broke the hug. Domino stared at him, making sure to take a one final good look at Jack before they parted ways for good. He had to admit, despite the fact that their time spent apart was short, something felt different about Jack. Even if he was upset when Domino saw him, Jack seemed more mature, perhaps even selfless. It was nice to see his brother grow up a little, even though it was under these circumstances. Domino vanished, returning to Asperity while Jack ran back to Takara's house.

When Domino returned, Rubix was the first to meet with him, wasting no time in asking him if he was successful in finding Jack.

"He has been defeated by the Pretty Cure." Domino debriefed tonelessly, though he felt his heart sink," Jack is gone."


	32. Rani and Nova's special playmate

Kiriko, Rani and Nova were all seated in the waiting room of a hospital, watching people walk in and out from the room, since it was better than looking at the anxious expressions of those who were seated. Soon-to-be-fathers, relatives who were at wit's end hoping for a surgery to go smoothly, children who had little to no clue what was going on, Kiriko had seen it all and by her second visit she figured she'd seen enough. So, Kiriko opted for studying, while Rani and Nova continued to take in their surroundings from Kiriko's bag. The only reason Nova was to tag along with the two of them was because Asuna was going to be out of town on a trip with her friends.

The walls were painted a very bright white, pristine and unusual to the two fairies and the waiting room was awfully quiet despite how many people were here. The only sounds that could've been heard were from the TV playing in the corner of the room and the receptionists on call at the front desk. Not even the few kids in the room were chatting amongst each other like normal. After only ten minutes of being here, Rani and Nova came to a decision: The waiting room of Kiriko's parents' hospital was nerve-wracking in its own special way and they certainly didn't like being here.

Nova dove deeper into the bag, growing impatient and sick of the strange sterile scent that trailed through the room as she said," How much longer will it take until your parents get out?"

Kiriko shushed Nova as discreetly as she could and shrugged, putting the bag in her lap as she said," I'm not sure. So you'll just have to tough it out."

Kiriko was checking out the university she had her eyes set on for a couple of months now and it just happened to be near the hospital that her parents worked at, so her parents offered to drive her home when their shift was over. Her parents had transferred to this hospital a couple of months ago, so Kiriko wasn't completely familiarized with it. It was a lot bigger than their old workplace, that was certain, but that also meant it was more crowded. Every visit made Kiriko feel a bit anxious in the presence of all the worried patients, but thankfully the staff was really nice to her.

"Let's take a walk." Kiriko suggested as she stood up from her seat and placed her messenger bag over her shoulder.

Kiriko walked through the halls, her movements quieter than usual as she brushed past nurses who crossed paths with her. She hadn't done a lot of walking through this hospital but from her last visit, she remembered that this sector was much more peaceful than the others and just ambled through without question. Kiriko then saw a window in the hall and walked towards it, leaning against the ledge and placing Rani and Nova next to her. The two fairies sat on the ledge and they all stared out the window.

"So, what do you guys think of Earth? Is it better, worse than you imagined?" Kiriko asked casually, her gaze still on the view from the window.

"Oh, Earth is lovely! With so many technological advancements and not to mention the architecture, it's a very exquisite place!" Rani remarked excitedly," Though...perhaps it'd been better if we didn't have to come under these circumstances."

"Yeah, as much as I like Earth too...it would be nice to just be here without having to worry about the kingdom." Nova commented with a sigh.

Kiriko looked towards the fairies and said solemnly," Don't worry, your home will be saved soon enough. I promise. But having said that, if it wasn't for your mission, would you guys have gone to Earth on your own accord?"

The two fairies thought long and hard about Kiriko's question and both of them arrived at an answer simultaneously.

"I think I would've liked to. I've always enjoyed learning about new cultures and customs, though I don't know how I'd be able to blend into the crowds when Earth isn't familiar with our kind." Rani said sheepishly as she looked out the window," It's not like I can magically turn into a human either."

"I probably wouldn't have gone." Nova said in a resolute tone," Despite having some advancements over the kingdom, Earth doesn't hold a candle to the festivities and cuisine we've got at the kingdom. Plus all my friends are there!"

Kiriko nodded in understanding, wondering what life would be like once Rani and Nova were able to go back home again. When they went to figure out how to save Tadashi the two of them seemed to be in low spirits, but they were insistent and said they were perfectly fine though the Cures could tell they were anything but. It was likely the kingdom was getting worse, it was only a matter of time before their last battle anyways.

Kiriko then felt her phone vibrate from her pocket and saw that she had a message from her mom, asking where she was. She texted her back saying that she'd be back in the waiting room soon and collected Rani and Nova from the window ledge. Just as soon as she turned around, she saw little girl in a pair of white pajamas holding a giant cup with a nurse by her side. The girl was pale in complexion, possibly from not getting to go outside a lot and her hair was a very light ash blonde that fell to her knees. She looked fairly content with the cup that she had to hold with both hands but as soon as she laid eyes on Kiriko, she immediately lit up.

"Oh, hi Kagari!" Kiriko said as she knelt slightly to speak with her eye-to-eye," It's been a while since I last saw you. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing great!" Kagari beamed as she took a giant slurp from the straw of her cup," Nurse Risa bought me a strawberry milkshake, my favourite! Oh! But we gotta keep it a secret, we can't let the other patients know."

"Your secret's safe with me." Kiriko reassured as she smiled towards Nurse Risa by Kagari's side.

"Your father just did a check-up on Kagari, everything appears to be in order." Risa explained to Kiriko," It probably won't be long until Kagari will be checked out."

"That's great!" Kiriko exclaimed, giving Kagari a high-five," I'm glad to hear you've been making progress."

Kagari nodded happily in response, before she noticed the 'plush toys' in Kiriko's hands and said," Kiriko, your stuffies are sooooo cute! Can I look at them please?"

Kiriko turned pale for a second, and looked down to Rani and Nova, who thankfully didn't appear to have any objections with being in the care of Kagari. Kiriko nodded and handed the two of them to Kagari, who held them with the utmost caution, much unlike any other kid her age who would've hugged them ferociously without warning. Kagari held the two of them and admired their stitching and fabric. They looked like high quality plushies and Kagari thought Kiriko to be lucky to own them. Kagari then gave them both a tight hug.

Rani and Nova were taken aback by Kagari's docile, yet compassionate disposition. She definitely didn't remind them of the other human children on Earth and being around her was almost refreshing.

"Do you have anymore check-ups to do this evening?" Kiriko asked her, though Kagari's gaze was fixated on Rani and Nova.

Kagari shook her head and said," Only two tomorrow. Then in a couple of weeks, I can go home!"

"I see...well, I'm checking out some of the university campuses nearby here this weekend, so if you'd like, you can hold onto my plushies for the evening." Kiriko offered, though Rani and Nova didn't appear to be all that approving. But, once the two of them saw how excited Kagari got, they knew their fate was sealed.

"Really?! Thank you so much! I promise to take good care of them and they'll have a bunch of fun with me!" Kagari exclaimed as she held the two of them high in the air and spun them around," Oh, we're gonna have lots and lots of fun together!"

Rani and Nova were feeling somewhat sick after getting spun around so suddenly but soon enough, Kagari returned to walking back to her room with Nurse Risa, parting ways with Kiriko. As Kagari walked back to her room, Rani and Nova began wondering exactly why Kiriko thought it would be a good idea to leave them with Kagari. Being left with a little kid and pretending to inanimate plush toys all day, did they do something wrong for a punishment this severe? The both of them wracked their brains to think of what they might've done to deserve this. But with both of them unable to arrive to a reasonable explanation, Rani and Nova surmised Kiriko only did this out of the goodness of her heart, feeling bad for Kagari who had to be in the hospital for so long.

Once Kagari was taken into her room, nurse Risa had to take her leave to check on the other patients, so she left Kagari alone with the two fairies. Kagari sat on her bed, facing the two fairies and stared at them for a good couple of moments. Rani and Nova tried to best to hold still while Kagari surveyed them closely, both wondering what she was thinking. Had she caught onto them already? Just the thought of it made them tense up even more, but Kagari failed to notice.

Kagari then held up one of Rani's ears, her eyes widening upon touching it as she said,"Wow, even your ears are really soft!"

Kagari then crossed her legs and furrowed her brows, saying to herself," I guess I should've asked Kiriko for your names. Otherwise I'd feel weird giving you guys new ones, since it'd probably confuse you."

Nova then drew out a deep sigh, alarming both Kagari and Rani as she said," Well, if it's bothering you that much, the name's Nova."

Rani lost it, and then broke her silence saying," Nova, we haven't even been here for ten minutes and you already broke character?"

Kagari was speechless, and then leaned in closer towards the two fairies, who were now much more interesting than she expected. Her eyes were dazzling as she looked at Rani and Nova, patiently waiting for them to say more to prove that she hadn't been imagining things.

"She's a kid, if she tells anyone that we talk, nobody will believe her." Nova pointed out quietly to Rani.

"You guys can talk?" Kagari questioned, as she helped up Rani curiously, before bouncing around excitedly," This is so cool! I've never seen stuffies that can talk before, that means today is going to be a lot more fun now that I know you guys can talk to me! Ooh, what else can you do by the way? Any really cool tricks or-?"

"One question at a time, please!" Rani requested in a weak attempt to have Kagari settle down," Anyways, I'm Rani and this is my friend Nova. Now, we may seem like some strange, peculiar creatures to you, but in our home, we're actually a very normal thing to find."

"Cool, I love learning about other countries! So where are you guys from?" Kagari asked curiously as she sprawled out onto her bed," Somewhere fancy like Italy, or modern and trendy like Hong Kong? Wait no, I got it! You guys are from...Canada!"

"What? No, you see- we're from a Kingdom literally realms away." Rani explained to Kagari, her patience growing thin," Our home is known as the Kingdom of Toys, the Laruan Kingdom."

"A long time ago, the Kingdom was built centuries past with the help of three people." Nova explained," There was a mage who created the Well of Wonder, for all the magic to cultivate and grow stronger, the King who ruled the land, and the Priestess who brought life to all the toys in the Kingdom. For a very long time, the Kingdom was a peaceful land where humans and toys could live side by side as the best of friends. But then-"

"- A place where humans and toys can talk to each other become best friends?! That's amazing, I want to go there! I bet it must be super cool, much nicer than a place like this- I mean, like Earth!" Kagari said, her face falling for a second as she looked down at her bed briefly. But soon enough, she was back to her hyperactive self.

"Can every single toy in the kingdom talk?" Kagari asked as she stepped on her bed," If I could go there, I'd bring all my toys so we can talk to each other and play games and explore and maybe even-!"

"Actually, you can only decide on one plush toys to have the ability to speak with you." Rani corrected swiftly," Usually, you pick the one that has been with you the longest, a toy that has gone through the ups and downs with you, that you could consider your dearest friend."

"My dearest friend?" Kagari repeated as she stroked her chin before she sat onto her bed again and reached for something at the corner of it. Kagari held out a white and blue polar bear plush that had a silver ribbon around it neck and a matching pair of earmuffs and mittens.

"I pick this guy! His name is Winter and I've had him for years now." Kagari stated as she held Winter in front of Rani and Nova," I got him one month before I got sick, and he's been with me ever since. He's come to all my surgeries, and he'll be there with me when I check out."

Kagari held Winter's paw to wave it to Rani and Nova, since he couldn't on his own. Kagari then held him tight, thinking about all the good times she had with Winter.

"Winter's probably really proud of me, I'm glad I've got to keep him all this time." Kagari said, still hugging Winter," Oh! So, does that mean you guys have stuffies for best friends too?"

"Not quite." Rani answered curtly, taking a deep breath before she continued," We come from line of fairies whose ancestor started as a plush toy. The plush toy was given the gift of life from the passing owner and from there on, they were no longer a plush mate."

"I see, so...do you know anything about the owner of your ancestor?" Kagari asked curiously.

Rani nodded, smiling a little as she said," My ancestor's owner was a brilliant young girl named Ishani. Ishani loved reading and playing music for all the city to hear. She may have had a big family but she always had time to spend with her plush mate. Ishani and her plush mate grew up together and when Ishani passed away, she decided she would've rather let her plush mate stay at the kingdom a bit longer, so she could experience things like having a family of her own. "

"That's so sweet!" Kagari gushed as she patted Rani's forehead," You sound very proud of your heritage. What about you Nova? What was your ancestor's owner like?"

"Well, um...you see, it's like this...it's just..." Nova stammered out," I...my family doesn't remember our ancestor's owner that well. She was around a very, very long time ago. She's lost to time I guess."

"Oh, well... I guess it makes sense if she passed away a really long time ago." Kagari said in understanding," It's too bad there weren't any cameras around way back then."

"Cameras?" The two of them repeated confusedly.

"You brat, I told you to get some souvenirs while you were there!" Tadashi chided into the phone as he shook his head," You can't tell me you already spend your money on food and video games because there's no way I'm believing that."

"Well, that's not my problem." Asuna said plainly, her mouth stuffed with takoyaki," Tokyo's got a bunch of tourist traps, so I couldn't help but fall for them as a naive first-year in high-school. Plus, you can always i-transfer if you want a souvenir that badly."

"That really isn't the point anymore..." Tadashi groaned as he walked out of the house, his headphones in so he could continue this call," You can't budget money properly! That's it, when you get back, I'm going to teach you the basics of money and how to save along with-"

Asuna hung up on him, no longer interested in what he had to say.

"Asuna?" Tadashi repeated into the phone," Good grief, serves me right for thinking she'd actually buy me something when all she does is spend her money on herself. Damn it, I don't have time to be dealing with this."

Tadashi took a breath and continued to walk out of the house. Today he was supposed to be helping Misato alongside Hayase with his platform deciding and speech writing. Now usually, the three had to be impartial and weren't really supposed to help out any candidates but all they planned to do today was help him organize a platform and revise his speech for grammatical errors, so technically it wasn't like they were having any influence over him. Plus, they offered to help out all the other first-years who had interest in the position.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't get to be helping Shina with anything like this because she confessed to them that she was moving in the next few months, so she couldn't commit to the position. Tadashi remembered Shina looking uncharacteristically frustrated with herself and upset when she had to tell them why she hadn't mentioned any interest in succeeding them. He considering arranging a goodbye party for her once the elections were over to lift her spirits.

When Tadashi arrived at Hayase's house, he found Misato standing at the front porch cautiously, only a few inches away from the front door. Tadashi waved to him and chuckled at the sight of Misato, clearly quite nervous to be at Hayase's house.

"Have you already knocked?" Tadashi asked as he inspected the door, with Misato shaking his head rigidly in response.

Tadashi put his hand on Misato's shoulder, saying," You shouldn't be so worried! Hayase's family is very nice, they love having guests over. Though right now, only his mom is here living with him. His dad and brother are abroad."

 _"If only that was what I had been worried about..."_ Misato thought to himself, tensing up with Tadashi's hand on his shoulder as Tadashi ran the doorbell.

Hayase was inside his room, his hair streaked bright colours, though he didn't realize it. His notes for today were ready on his side table while he gingerly held his hand out, still in disbelief of what he saw happening before his eyes. In front of him was his old toy rocket ship transporting his pencil case and note books on the low study table he had on his table. It may not have been much of spectacle but still, it was progress. Hayase could feel his heart racing as he watched the rocket he commanded through only his fingertips, while trying to think of what else he could accomplish. Something more complex would've been way cooler, but it wasn't as if he could show this to anyone.

Just then, a memory unwillingly found itself running through Hayase's mind. He was very little at the time and it was from so long ago but the memory was as clear as day.

 _One of his parents was in tears, sobbing quietly but he couldn't tell who it was since he wasn't in the room. He heard footsteps coming his way so quickly, he ran up the stairs and into his bedroom, trying his best act natural in the case one of his parents came upstairs. Neither of his parents came up for a while but then his mother entered his room and found him playing with his toys. His mother took a deep breath and took a seat opposite of where Hayase was at his play table._

 _"Hayase, you and I both know you have something special within you, but...for your own safety, to keep you out of harm, it would make me and your father so happy if you ignored it completely, please." Hana said to him, he could tell easily that she was tearing up but he didn't know how to help her or what to say and ended up feeling as upset as she did._

 _"Discerning this power will keep me out of harm's way. If I pretend it doesn't exist, it'll make my parents worry-free."_ Hayase thought to himself, his gaze falling to the study table where the play table used to be _," I don't want to put them through that again, but it isn't fair that I have to throw away and disregard my magic in order to keep them from worrying."_

Suddenly, a loud knock on his bedroom door came and halted his thoughts, resulting in the rocket ship to scatter the loose leaf pages it was transporting all over the table. Hayase sighed and looked over to find a familiar face standing in the doorway.

Hayase's older brother Toya was finally home on break from university and was now home to find that a lot had changed in both the town and his home. For starters, Hayase was looking and acting less like his usual self.

"Yo your friends are here." Toya said, narrowing his eyes at Hayase, before pulling off the beanie from his head and tossing it towards Hayase," You'll need this. I'll give you time to straighten up and I'll let them in."

The next morning, Rani and Nova were sitting in a near empty cafeteria with Kagari. Kagari was eating a bowl of oatmeal while Rani and Nova ate apple slices that Kagari took for them. Kagari's mom accompanied them at the cafeteria but she had to step out for a bit due to a business call.

"Wow, even on her day off, your mom seems to be swamped with work." Rani remarked as she grabbed for another apple slice.

Kagari nodded and said," I guess so. Her job allows her to travel a lot but she hasn't gotten to do any business trips in a while. But in two months from now when I'm checked out and good as new, we're going to go to America for a week!"

"What's an America?" Nova asked dumb-foundedly, causing Kagari to gasp dramatically.

"You've never heard of America?" Kagari questioned in surprise, though Rani had to shush her so she wouldn't draw attention to the table," It's amazing! They've got all these busy and crazy cool cities like New York, and Los Angeles, and Miami. They've even got lots of whisky, soda and rock and roll!"

"That sounds awful." Rani said flatly, narrowing her eyes at Kagari," But you sound really excited about your trip! Come to think of it, you know of a lot of cities and countries for someone your age."

"Oh, well that's because I wanna travel the world when I get better!" Kagari explained, excitement creeping into her voice," I wanna see Rome, and Lichtenstein, and Dubai, and Seoul and Rio de Janeiro...and when I'm done with high-school, I wanna study in America! I even have my "American name" decided on! When I go to the states, they'll know me as..."

Kagari stood up on her seat, pointing her index finger to the ceiling with her other hand on her hip,"...Katie!"

Rani glanced around and saw that people were starting to stare at them again, forcing her to urge Kagari back into her seat.

"You see, I picked that name because my full name is Kagari Tomiaka, and when you put my initials together, they sound like the name Katie!" Kagari explained, practically bouncing in her seat, with the two fairies commending her on her well thought-out English name.

Rubix and Domino were sitting at the rooftop of the hospital with Rubix relishing in the clouded day and the winds that brushed past her. Domino eyed her skeptically, surprised that she wasn't even feeling the slightest chill in this weather. He then turned his attention back to the blueprints he had in his hands, looking at them vacantly while Rubix twirled around for a few moments.

"We need to make this quick." Rubix reminded him once she got closer," There are a lot of potential Defectives that can be made in this confinement."

Domino glared at her and said," It isn't a _confinement_ , it's a hospital. And if I recall correctly, don't you have your own work that needs to be done?"

"Which is precisely why this needs to be done quick, so I can get back to my own task." Rubix responded curtly as she crossed her arms," You've been in quite a bad mood since Jack has been defeated."

"You wouldn't understand." Domino stated in a bitter voice," I'm not upset because Jack was _defeated_ , I lost part of my _family_. But it's not like you could emphasize or even hope to imagine what that feels like."

Domino was expecting Rubix to roll her eyes or scoff in response, since he was right but it's not like she would've cared either way. Instead, she only stared at him for a few hard moments, though it seemed as if she had been merely zoning off and happened to be looking in his direction. Family was such a vague word to her, she felt like she never had a connection like that and yet, something within her made her doubtful about that. Rubix didn't want to focus on this though and only returned to her current task: creating as many Defectives here as possible. Well, assist Domino in creating as many Defectives as possible.

"So, run the plan over with me one last time." Rubix insisted as she joined Domino in examining the blueprints.

"It's simple really..." Domino said to her as he pointed to each step on the page, with Rubix following along attentively.

Hours later, Kiriko, Mari and Sophie were walking around the district of university and college campuses near the hospital. Kiriko and Mari may have already decided on their universities and majors, but they still wanted to grasp some idea of what their post-secondary school life would be like. Already the two of them were excited by the massive campuses and all different kinds of students, both young and old walking around the district. One of their favourite things so far have to have been the absence of uniforms.

"Oooh, everyone is dressed so nicely! They get to wear their own clothes and show off their style! It'd be so easy to find good photography subjects in a place like this!" Mari gushed as she looked around and saw a pair of girls donned in cute duffel coats.

"Well, almost everyone." Sophie said sheepishly as she saw a student walk across campus in both a sweatshirt and sweat pants.

"This place is close enough to commute by bus, though I heard that many students having been residing on campus." Kiriko said as she spotted a building where a group of boys walked out from. The campus was filled with people but there was enough room that girls didn't feel as if they were in a crowd. Plus, they were only seeing a fraction of the school, heaven knew how packed the rest of the campus was.

"Hey Mari, are you going to any of the schools around here next year?" Kiriko asked as the three of them took a seat.

Mari shook her head and said," No, my school's in the next town, so I'll be dorming there for a bit." Mari explained as she kept her gaze on the campus," We'll be graduating soon...so that means, we'll probably have to get our final battle out of the way."

A silence formed between the group as soon Mari said that, the three all in deep thought about how their time as Pretty Cure was going to come to a close soon. Though whether that was in victory or defeat, the girls couldn't help but wonder.

To ease the sudden tension between the three of them, Mari then said," It'd probably be better if we had it sooner rather than later. I don't think I'd enjoy trying to juggle life as a Pretty Cure with a college workload."

Kiriko nodded in agreement, though she stayed quiet as she continued to look around the university campus. She then stood up from her seat and motioned for the two girls to follow her.

"We're within walking distance from the hospital, so I might as well pick up Rani and Nova since my mom's shift ends soon." Kiriko stated as she lead the group to the hospital.

Kagari sat around inside her room with Nova and Rani by her side. Her mom was just outside the hall, still on call with her business partner. Kagari looked outside and sighed, she was already to take a walk around the hospital courtyard but her mom's work was a higher priority.

"Hey I've been wondering..." Kagari began, still keeping her gaze on the window," I know Nova mentioned having friends at the kingdom but what about you Rani? Do you have a bunch of friends waiting for you back home too?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm a bit of a homebody." Rani answered sheepishly," I'm more of a reserved individual, which is precisely why I requested Nova to come with me."

Nova nodded in agreement, then stood up to say," That's right! Rani may not talk to a lot of people, but we're the best of friends! I've known her ever since we were little."

Kagari lit up, thinking of her own friends she knew for years and smiled to the two of them saying," Aw, that's nice to hear! But you're still little though. Oh and one more thing! The three people you mentioned in your story, the...priestess, mage and the king, are they still around?"

"Of course not, they've been dead for centuries now." Nova explained to her, expecting Rani to back her up but she failed to do anything of the sort. Nova figured Rani just zoned out during their conversation, but Rani's attention hadn't strayed away and she just wore an uncertain look on her face.

"Miss Kagari," A nurse called out to her from the doorway," Your mother has bought you a milkshake."

Kagari jumped up excitedly from her seat and dashed to the door to retrieve the milkshake from the nurse, who was clad in full scrubs plus a surgical mask. The nurse gave the milkshake to Kagari and went to tend to the rest of the patients in the hall. Kagari was about to take a giant sip from her milkshake, but then she smelt something that seemed off. She opened up the lid and was disgusted by what she found.

"Vanilla?! But mom knows my favourite is strawberry." Kagari stated with a grimace as she looked into the milky white milkshake that also had some black kind of sprinkles on top of it," And this kinda looks like that activated charcoal stuff...I can't have it since it'll cause complications with my medication."

Rani and Nova joined in her looking down at the milkshake, but the two of them recognized the black sprinkles as something else. Nova knocked the milkshake out of Kagari's hand but before it all spilt out, the sprinkles all formed together to create one black diamond shard. The black shard then forced its way towards Kagari as fast as it could.

"Kagari, duck!" Rani shouted to her, who narrowly dodged the shard racing towards her. The shard was stuck in the wall for a few moments and so, the two fairies grabbed the emptied milkshake cup and held it against the wall to keep it from merging with Kagari's Patchwork Heart.

"I doubt we'll be able to keep this thing here for long but Kagari, you need to get out of here!" Rani instructed sternly," This shard is extremely dangerous and we can't let you get caught in all this!"

Kagari nodded in response and ran out of the room, but when she did, she found dozens of people lying unconscious in the halls and virtually everywhere in the hospital. Kagari was too scared to move for a moment as she took in her surroundings with disbelief. She kept her back against the wall for a few moments, before she heard a shriek so loud she clasped her hands against her ears. Kagari then remembered that Rani and Nova were back in her room fighting to keep her safe right now, so to make things easier for the two of them, she ran to best hiding spot she could think of. Kagari hadn't ran this much in a while and the feeling of it was both exhilarating yet dreadful. She could feel her lungs burning from being out of practice but continued on and finally reached her hiding place, panting in her breaths.

There was a janitor's closet next to the door that led to the rooftop that was always open. Kagari tried opening it, but this time, it appeared today was an exception for the always open closet. Kagari was growing frantic, holding the doorknob with both her hands and twisting as hard as she possibly could. She decided if she couldn't open it now, then it wasn't going to open at any point so she opened the door to the rooftop to hide there instead.

Kagari felt a sharp chill run down her spine from being out here without a coat, but what made her feel even worse was the sight of a person she didn't recognize but she could tell was bad news with their strange clothes and floating domino for a head contained in a glass.

"What's this, a little escape artist?" Domino asked coyly, sitting on the ledge of the rooftop with his blueprints still in hand.

When Kiriko, Mari and Sophie all arrived at the hospital, they were shocked to find that the hospital was littered with unconscious people and no sign of a Defective. The three of them then suddenly heard the cry of one, though it sounded like it came from a few floors up. Kiriko looked towards her teammates and gestured for them to take out their PlayPacts.

"Pretty Cure, it's playtime!" The three of them shouted in unison.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

The three of them exchanged expressions, feeling as if something wasn't quite right with their obligatory team introduction phrase.

"Somehow...it doesn't feel quite right saying it without Cure Teddy..." Bubbly confessed sheepishly before the three of them ran towards the nearest staircase. They ran up a bunch of floors, until the screams from the Defective got louder and clearer. Soon, they nearly reached the top, only two levels shy from heading to the rooftop, when Dolly halted them and pressed her ear up against the door that lead to the hallway. She could hear the Defective as clear as day, running around the floors of the hospital, heedless of all the damage it was probably causing. Dolly motioned her fellow Cures to follow her into the hallway of the floor.

The three of them were in a wide, empty hall, devoid of any kind of sound except for the cries from the Defective. The Cures were on guard, each of them darting their eyes around the hall as they slowly walked through it. The Cures footsteps were soft, unable to be heard by the Defective at all, though it wasn't intentional of them. The more time they had spent in the halls by themselves though, the more on edge they became. Soon, they were reaching the end of the hall with having an encounter with the Defective.

Dolly, who was leading the group, found this highly suspicious, since they could all hear the shouting from the Defective, but it was nowhere to be seen. Dolly looked up curiously, just to make sure it hadn't been waiting for them on the ceiling or anything like. Still no sign of the Defective and by now, the Cures were on the opposite end of the hall, now approaching the other hospital staircase. Suddenly, Dolly spun around as a thought came into her mind and the Defective ripped through the one of the doors in the hallway, coming between Dolly and her teammates.

"Wow, another one of these..." Dolly remarked as she took a good look at the Defective that stood before her.

Kagari stood in front of Domino, putting on a brave front as she said to him," I won't forgive you for what you did here today! This place is full of innocent people who just wanna get better, and you don't have the right to hurt them like this!"

Domino was somewhat surprised to watch a child as defenseless as Kagari stand up for the rest of the hospital like this. Her bold and unrelenting attitude reminded him of a certain someone who left him behind but then, he noticed Kagari's balled fists were shaking violently. Domino's expression then softened, it was easy to see that Kagari was standing up to him in spite of her own fear and watching her made him feel a strange sense of pity. Regardless, he wasn't interested in having her get involved in this.

It seemed Jack's resolve was beginning to affect Domino in some way, for now he too was having trouble finding the motivation to fight. Regardless, he didn't it see it likely that he would try to target someone as physically weak as Kagari.

He decided letting her run away would've been best but before he could even suggest that to her, Rubix returned. For once, Rubix appeared to be in good spirits, though the only indication of this was a very, very small on her face while her eyes looked vacant. That was until she saw Kagari standing a few feet away from Domino.

"I'll take care of her." Rubix reassured to her teammate, though Domino didn't think her definition of 'take care' matched his. But even if he wanted to protest, Domino already knew Rubix was much stronger than him, everyone at Asperity knew that Rubix wasn't a force to be messed with. But the only thing stronger than Rubix's fighting skills was her loyalty to Lilith. She always acted as if her only option was to follow Lilith's orders and while the rest of the Asperity members had done the same, they were beginning to feel doubt and lots of it.

Domino wanted Kagari to stay away from Rubix, to escape and not have to be subjected to what Rubix would've done to her. But, the fact that he was undoubtedly powerless in comparison to Rubix, that the odds were against him and he didn't stand a chance had him allowing Rubix to do as she wished. Domino fell silent and Rubix thought nothing of it, walking towards Kagari. She kneeled in front of her and said softly,

"You have nothing to worry about, ok?"

The Defective, made from Kagari's bear Winter, was a lot harder to communicate with than Dolly expected. The Defective wasn't giving her any chances to speak with it and only continued to fight with the Pretty Cure mindlessly. The Defective was surprisingly quick on its feet, and rivalled the girls in terms of power with its sole attack of blowing snow towards them. Bubbly and Fantasy tried to keep the Defective from performing that attack, since they didn't have any way of countering it.

Bubbly gracefully dodged a punch from the Defective, jumping up onto one of the beds lying in the hallways, but not expecting it to roll so easily and started to zoom past the hall on it.

"Bubbly, get back here! We don't have time for this!" Fantasy called out.

"Do you actually think I did this on purpose?!" Bubbly shouted back, before she noticed she was on her way to colliding into the hallway exit door. She shrieked as she held her hands in front of herself, forming a giant bubble in front of the door to prevent the collision. Fantasy ran to her side, though she didn't have to travel far since the bubble launched Bubbly right back to their compact battlefield.

"Has Dolly gotten through to that grouchy Defective yet?" Bubbly asked, her tone sounding impatient as she jumped off the bed, with Fantasy shaking her head in response.

"She said this one is different from the others...it may have the appearance of a plush toy but there isn't any getting through to it," Fantasy explained worriedly as she studied the Defective," Not to mention, it's stronger than expected, even without the snow blowing."

Dolly tried to swing a punch at the Defective, but she missed and found herself getting frustrated quick. She really didn't want to do this, but the Defective didn't give her any other choice. So, she held her hands out and shouted,

"Pretty Cure, wishful cyclone!"

The violet and pink whirlwind tore past the walls to reach the Defective, and while looked like it would've been able to knock the Defective down, it did no such thing and was only deflected when the Defective swung the back of it hands towards it. The Defective then pressed its hands together and turned its attention towards Bubbly and Fantasy.

"What is it doing?" Dolly asked under her breath as she narrowed her eyes at the Defective, before realization struck her.

"Get out of the way!" Dolly shouted to the two of them, but her words didn't reach in time and the attack the Defective was preparing had already been dealt. The two Cures were met with an attack that froze them from head to toe. The both of them looked like figures made from ice, Dolly couldn't believe her eyes as she dashed towards the two of them. She was scared of letting their frozen figures break apart and she couldn't think of a way to thaw them out. She knew she wouldn't be able to be able to fix them, but she also knew now wasn't any time to be brooding over her loss.

Just then, Domino and Rubix appeared in the hallway, with Kagari clinging to Rubix's side nervously. Once Kagari saw the Defective, she was horrified by her beloved bear's new form and ran towards it.

"Winter, what did they do to you?!" Kagari asked Winter, but he wouldn't give her an answer.

Domino looked at Rubix in question, who only responded with," I thought they could use a little reunion."

Kagari then started thinking about how this could've happen, before she thought to herself," _She must've took Winter when she was delivering that milkshake!"_

Kagari ran even closer to the Defective, completely heedless of the danger that came with being near it and shook the Defective's hand to gain its attention. Dolly chased after Kagari and tried to pull her away from the Defective, but to no avail.

"Winter, you can't be doing this kinda stuff, you're going to hurt all our friends at the hospital!" Kagari pleaded the Defective, who was trying to be pulled away from the ten foot tall bear by Dolly.

"He's being controlled by those two, there's no getting through to him right now." Dolly said as she urged Kagari to let go of Winter, though she was doubtful that Kagari was even listening to her. Kagari shook her head and only held on tighter. When she gripped the Defective's leg a little too tightly though, she finally got the Defective's attention, but it seemed rather irritated by the two of them. The Defective glowered towards Kagari and Dolly, the former finally letting go of it after seeing the dark look in its eye.

The Defective was preparing itself to use the same attack from before that entrapped Bubbly and Fantasy, but just then, a pair of voices were heard.

"Stop right there!" Rani and Nova shouted in unison, standing in the doorway that led to the staircase. All eyes were on the two fairies, who walked closer towards the Defective with matching determined looks on their faces.

"You two of all people oughta stay away, please don't come any closer!" Dolly advised them sternly, but they didn't listen.

"Dolly can't you see? This Defective is way stronger than all the others since it was made from multiple people." Nova said as the two of them marched on," And with your team in this situation, we have no other choice!"

Dolly sighed, as she thought to herself _," With a Defective this strong, the last thing I'd want is for the two of them to get caught in the crossfire and get hurt."_

Rubix crossed her arms, seeming uninterested in the pair of fairies while Domino chuckled at the sight of them walking so bravely towards the Defective that was easily ten times their size.

"Are Dumbo and Rarity going to save the day?" Domino asked jokingly before the two of them stopped walking and stood just a few inches away from the frozen Bubbly and Fantasy.

"Hmm, hopefully this shouldn't be too tricky, after all, we've got the upper hand." Rani said to Nova, who only nodded in response.

 _"Do those two really think they stand a chance against this Defective?"_ Dolly thought to herself doubtfully as she held Kagari close.

Everyone in the room shared the same thoughts about this proposed battle between the fairies and the Defective; those thoughts being that the fairies were certain to lose.

"Now Nova!" Rani shouted and in the blink of an eye, Bubbly and Fantasy's petrifications were reversed. The two Cures looked surprised as they moved around curiously, just as confused as everyone else within the vicinity.

"How did you do that?!" Rubix questioned in pure shock as Nova wore a smug look on her face.

"You left one of those dark diamonds of yours behind. We hadn't intended to make use of it, but it seemed that was the only way to break off the ice." Rani explained to her," You have been causing needless trouble for far too long. Cure Cheer didn't pass on just so history could repeat itself!"

"Cure Cheer?" Rubix repeated with disdain. Just saying that name made her blood boil and Domino could see she was getting worked up just by the thought of her, so he pressed a button on his control panel to make cloud appear over her head and dispel a mass of snow on her.

Rubix shuddered and brushed the snow off of herself as she glared to Domino, asking him," What did you do that for?"

"So you can chill out." Domino answered flatly.

Kagari clung to Winter's leg again, shaking it in a near violent manner as she said to him," Winter, I know you can hear me, you have to stop right now! Otherwise you'll be doing something you'll regret!"

Dolly sighed, trying to separate Kagari from the Defective as she said, "I already told you Winter can't hear you, he's-"

The Defective then stared down at Kagari, not as irritated as before though it wore a rather pained look on its face. Upon seeing the Defective's expression, Kagari held onto the Defective's leg tighter, as if she was giving it a hug. The Defective then picked up Kagari and let her sit in its palm.

"I know you're not doing this willingly, but if you let the Pretty Cure help, they can change you back to normal! The last thing I want is to watch you hurt others against your own will." Kagari said to the Defective. The Defective stared at Kagari for a few long moments and then nodded as it brought her close for a hug. Kagari gave the Cures a thumbs-up and the Defective put her down.

The Cures then summoned their scepters along with their toy toppers and held them out high, shouting in unison,

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!"

The Cures outfits changed and the three of them held their scepters out in front of the Defective, as they all called out,

" Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"

A swarm of kaleidoscopic lights circled around the Defective and smothered it, reverting it back into its original form.

The Defective was purified and fell into Kagari's arms, who hugged her bear as tight as she could.

"But we used so many corrupted Patchwork Hearts, there's no way she could've gotten through to it!" Rubix stated in sheer disbelief, but Domino didn't seem as concerned as her. The two of them disappeared back to Asperity, while the Cures ran to the staircase entrance to reverse their transformation without any unwanted attention.

"Today has been quite a success, and not only because we managed to save an entire hospital populace from Asperity." Rani deduced to the girls as she held out a very small fragment from the black diamond that Nova used to unthaw Bubbly and Fantasy," After all this time, we've finally managed to acquire a part of these things. Now we can figure out how we can stop Asperity from making Defectives and even more!"

"Seriously?! That's great!" Kiriko exclaimed as she cupped her hand so Rani could let her hold the shard.

Kiriko held it up to the light as she said, " These shards have been the cause for all this chaos, it's about time we figured out how they work to get rid of them for good."


	33. Kiriko's mall crawl

Days later, the four Pretty Cure and the fairies were all gathered in Kiriko's room, inspecting the fragment left behind from the shard that Rani and Nova were able to recover. It was awfully small, Kiriko wondered if they'd be able to analyze correctly at that size, but the two fairies reassured her that they'd be able to figure it out, despite how small it was. Kiriko seemed unsure, but the two of them said to her regardless of the size, it would be easy to figure out its contents with the right tools.

So, Kiriko found an old microscope her mom had laying around from when she was in her university years. Kiriko had to haul the microscope out from the garage and into her bedroom, feeling exhausted after two steps of carrying it. Kiriko looked at the microscope sheepishly, knowing it was likely older than her. While her mom no longer had use for it, it did come in handy for a time like this.

The microscope was currently being used by Rani, who kept her eye on the fragment beneath the microscope's lens. The girls watched her curiously, each of them thinking of how odd it was for an object that clearly had no purpose here on Earth to be inspected by an instrument that Rani and Nova had never even seen until this afternoon. After a few moments of inspecting and studying the fragment beneath the lens though, Rani was able to learn something worth sharing about the shard.

"This shard is made from Everlight!" Rani said to the group, only confusing the girls even more.

Rani chuckled awkwardly, feeling as if her discovery had been a bit anticlimactic, though that was only because this was the first time the girls had heard about Everlight.

"Everwhat?" Asuna repeated blankly as she scratched the back of her head, while Nova retrieved the shard from the microscope.

"Everlight is a semi-precious stone found in the kingdom." Nova explained as she placed the shard back on the table," It can't be found in a lot of places, but that's a good thing, since it's only notable use is draining people of their magic."

Kiriko had a look of question on her face as she said, "What do mean by draining people of their magic?"

"The Everlight stones are infamous among those who actually practice magic, specifically those who don't practice at it enough." Rani explained to them," I suppose you could compare to the Poison Ivy of your world. Many people don't realize they've been in contact with it until hours have past and they been...infected. Everlight has the ability to change it's colour, though it's usually translucent in it's regular form. Therefore, it could be easily disguised and often gifted to the strongest mages centuries past."

Rani picked up the PlayPact from the far end of the table where the microscope sat and open it up, placing the shard on top of the mirror. Once the shard was in place, an image was projected from centuries ago that depicted a boy with pale green hair receiving a velvety blue box with a gold ring inside. The gold ring had a strange stone embellished into it though, one that shone a rainbow of colours when the sun fell upon it.

"It's a slow process that involved a lot of dedication, the ones who were fully successful were working at their plans for months." Rani explained as they PlayPact showed an image of the same boy, now with a high fever on his bed," Ironic that those who worked away at their plans so diligently refused to put those efforts towards honing their own magic."

"It was common to watch a mage get poisoned by the stone itself once their magic was fully drained, or from outside sources." Nova stated as the projection disappeared," Anyways, while it seems like Everlight is a main component in these shards...something still feels off, like we're missing something."

"So...you can run out of magic?" Sophie questioned," I thought it was kinda like oxygen you know, like always around and flowing."

"In some cases, you can run out of oxygen too, right?" Rani reminded her," If you can't get enough oxygen to flow through your body in time, then certain parts have difficulty functioning properly. The Everlight has the ability to extract a great amount of magic in a short time, about a fraction of the time it takes for a Patchwork Heart to accumulate all that magic. If your Patchwork Heart can't compete with the demands of the Everlight, the Everlight will aim for the source instead."

"So...the Everlight can devour a Patchwork Heart?" Mari asked, taking a cautious step away from the shard, with Rani nodding in response.

"It's been banned in several parts of the kingdom for that very reason. Unfortunately, it still grows in more remote parts of the land." Rani debriefed, before she returned her gaze to the fragment," For that shard to be used like this is fitting, but...it's clearly been mixed with some other components, making it a lot more dangerous than usual."

"Maybe someone in the kingdom can figure out what other stuff was used to make it." Asuna suggested with a shrug.

"Ah, no it's ok! It may take a little time, but I'm sure the two of us will be able to figure it out on our own right here!" Rani reassured, her words rushed as Nova nodded in agreement.

The girls looked at them suspiciously for a moment, but nobody say a word in response. Rani and Nova hadn't been acting as they usually did when the kingdom was mentioned, but nobody wanted to address this matter. Nobody knew what the fairies saw there when they went back a few weeks ago, but judging by their expressions, the girls weren't sure if they were ready to know.

"Wow, it's gotten pretty late!" Nova remarked as she looked out the window to see the sky already toned down to a very dark blue," I think we've uncovered as much as we could today. Rani and I can pick this up again in a few days, when we've spent some time away from the shard."

Asuna then picked up Nova from where she was sitting next to Rani as she said," If you want to go home early just to start playing that game I introduced you to last night, you could've just said so."

Nova protested against Asuna grabbing her without warning, especially since she could fly and didn't need to be carried around like a toy, saying," I told you to stop carrying me around like this, plus you can't just go around telling everyone that I just wanna go home and game!"

"Well, I already did, not much we can do about that." Asuna pointed out as she collected her bag next to Kiriko's door," It's not like I said you sucked at it, which is pretty obvious after watching you try to reach a checkpoint for over forty-five minutes."

"You take that back! I was still figuring out the game controls!" Nova claimed, with Asuna still holding onto to her, well-aware that Nova didn't need her help for transportation.

Sophie and Mari giggled, following Asuna's lead as they collected their things too.

"I'm sure we'll be able to figure out how stop these shards from working. I mean, it shouldn't get any harder from here after actually getting our hands on one of them, right?" Mari said to Kiriko who nodded in response. Kiriko led the girls to the front door and waved each of them goodbye.

Once Kiriko was home alone, she ran back upstairs to her room and swung open her closet door. It looked as it always did, with the exception of a few bright coloured clothes in the middle of the rack. She picked out a few of them, hugging them and exhaled a sigh. These were the clothes that Kozue bought her when they went out shopping awhile back. Their pale colours were soothing and pleasant to Kiriko's eyes, making her feel at peace as she laid them all out on her bed. Kiriko would've never imagined owning clothes like this at her age but to see them here in her room made her feel a strange sense of accomplishment.

Kiriko trailed her fingers across one of the shirts, which was cropped and had a blue and pink mermaid on it. She then held it out in front of Rani and jokingly asked her,

"Do you think this would look good on me?"

"Yeah, I think so. But...you don't seem so sure, well, if anything...you seem hesitant." Rani answered," I don't really understand, it's just a shirt."

"In your world, it wouldn't make a different because everything is pastel, but on Earth, people will judge you on everything they can think of." Kiriko explained to her," Your clothes, your taste in music, your hobbies, your favourite shows. It isn't easy to be yourself when everyone else isn't like you. There are people who pride themselves on being unique and different but...I'm not sure if I can count myself as one of them. I don't want to stand out and draw attention to myself, I just want to do what makes me feel happy."

Rani nodded as Kiriko stood up, attempting to coordinate her outfit. Admittedly, this was harder than expected, she was sure she got the gist of it after scrolling through the fashion section of her Instagram page.

"Will you be wearing these clothes out anytime soon?" Rani asked as Kiriko tried matching accessories on her bed, with Kiriko nodding in response.

"Shina wanted to hang out for a bit tomorrow, so I thought it'd be a good time to try these clothes out." Kiriko explained, tossing a necklace onto the shirt to see if they'd look good together, not even noticing how surprised Rani was when Kiriko mentioned her plans.

"Isn't that the girl who changed Tadashi back to normal from when he turned into a frog?" Rani gasped out, with Kiriko nodding in response.

"Come on, she didn't do anything, the spell or whatever probably wore off." Kiriko reassured, her focus solely on the outfit she was trying to coordinate," She might not act like it most times, but Shina is a normal girl."

Kiriko then placed her focus only on the outfit she was coordinating, taking great care in making sure it looked perfect for tomorrow, while managing to still be wearable without being looked at too much. Once she finally decided on tomorrow's outfit, she laid the assortment of clothes onto her computer desk chair.

"These last few months have been so strange...a couple of months ago I probably would've never wanted to do any of the things I'm doing tomorrow." Kiriko stated aloud," I always kept to myself and never made the effort to be closer to anyone, and just admired everyone else at a comfortable distance. I didn't think that I had any place among them, but I eventually found somewhere to belong."

The next day, Kiriko could be seen standing at the entrance to the mall, wearing the outfit she put together last night. She was proud of herself for not only making such well-put outfit, or as they would call "coord" but also because she made it all the way to the mall without fighting the urge to go back home and change into something less eye-catching. For someone who had little to no experience in coordinating outfits, Kiriko's 'coord' was definitely something to be commended. She wore a light blue-green raincoat with purple and pink hearts on it with the cropped white top from last night and a grey circle skirt with lilac frilled knee-high socks. Her acccessories were a mix of items she had kept onto since she was little and new additions to her little collection. Today's outfit was decorated with some beaded bracelets and a light blue choker with a necklace that had a crown on it.

Kiriko just took in her surroundings, it had been a while since she last came here. The mall was filled with interesting things for Kiriko to see, like new stores popping up, new restaurants to try out, and getting to watch all sorts of people join together just to spend time in each other's company. Watching them all flood into the mall made Kiriko a little excited for today.

Shina texted her saying that she would arrive shortly, so Kiriko took a seat and waited for her.

 _"Come to think of it, this might be my first time actually hanging out with Shina like this."_ Kiriko thought to herself as she looked at the bus stop a few feet away," I wonder why she asked to hang out so suddenly."

Asperity was anything but peaceful with the absence of Jack and Lilith finding out. As soon as Lilith heard that Jack had been defeated, she was irate, and nobody really did expect it (except Domino) so they tried their best to appease her in some way. Well, Rubix tried her best. Bounce instead tried to avoid Lilith, unsure of exactly what to say or do in a time like this and only wandered through the maze-like halls of Asperity, hoping she could simply tune out all the noise and discordance going on beyond the halls of Asperity. Though, she was well-aware that she had one option worth trying to put Lilith's mind at rest.

Bounce saw a light at the end of the hallway that probably came from an open door, so she walked closer towards it and found Rubix standing in a room with translucent cubes that displayed scenes from Earth as if they were surveillance cameras. Rubix didn't even notice Bounce enter the room, her eyes glued to the makeshift cameras in front of her.

"You know, I doubt mom's going to like see you draped over a bunch of TVs like this." Bounce pointed out to her as Rubix continued to watch the screens.

"This is all I can do...I'm running out of places to search. It won't be no long until I have to revisit the first locations I scouted out." Rubix claimed as she stared at a screen displaying a group of teenagers walking out of a cafe," If Jack hadn't been so defiant, we wouldn't be in this situation."

Bounce shrugged saying," It's not our fault he got defeated. Though it sucks he isn't around anymore." Bounce said with a sigh before joining Rubix in staring at the screens," Tell you what, since you've been stressing about making mom happy, what if I just...make things slightly easier for you. I know your job is to look for the Patchwork Hearts of the Mage and King, so we could use their magic in the case that we can't find the rest of the well's magic, along with the of what we have built up. I can look for one heart, and you'll look for the other, so now you just have less to do!"

"What about finding the Princess." Rubix reminded her, finally removing her gaze from the screens.

"Oh yeah, uh...we can take turns on that!" Bounce suggested," Either way, the only thing that will make mom happy at this point is progress. And lots of it. If we could uncover both hearts and the Princess really soon, she's going to forget all about Jack and we'll be back in business!"

Rubix nodded slowly and responded with," Fine, then I have you look around for the Mage's Patchwork Heart. Meanwhile, I can search for the King's Patchwork Heart and the Princess. I'm going to search in a little while, I have some other things to tend to before I take my leave."

"Sure whatever, do what you gotta do. I can do some searching in my own in the meantime." Bounce stated, before she disappeared to the human world.

Once Rubix was left by herself in the room, she made all the cubes disappear and left the room to speak with Lilith. The closer she got to Lilith's room, the harder it was for her to keep walking. Soon enough, Rubix found herself unable to move forward without taking a break, only a few steps away from Lilith's room now.

"Damn it, even if my own body had a little bit of Nixe within it, it's nothing compared to the amount that Lilith's been hosting. It makes no sense for my body to reject it after this long." Rubix said to herself as she held her sides," I need to get accustomed to it, Lilith will have to share more Nixe's magic with me."

Kiriko had just met up with Shina, who said nothing bad about her outfit and complimented it instead, though her thoughts had admittedly been elsewhere. She was in truth far too distracted to even judge Kiriko on her clothes today, but it's not like she would've either way. Shina then took the lead as the two of them entered the mall.

As the two of them walked past the somewhat crowded halls, Kiriko felt something off about Shina but she couldn't quite figure out what it was. She looked pretty much the same, except for the fact that she obviously wasn't in uniform but...she was a bit quieter than usual. Kiriko had always viewed Shina as a fairly outgoing girl, but this was her first time hanging with her one on one, so maybe she just assumed wrong?

As Shina led the two of them past the lesser known stores in the mall, she felt herself tense up a little. Even she knew she wasn't acting like herself today, she hadn't felt like herself in days. Today's goal had been to fix that, to somehow magically repair herself and back to normal. Shina didn't have many friends who were girls, and despite being easy to talk to, she had things even she was hesitant to speak about with others. Things she would've like to get off her chest, but didn't have it in her to say aloud.

Shina led Kiriko into one of the chain clothing stores in the mall, and it appeared that neither of them had stepped into it before.

"This place is huge!" The two of them said aloud.

Shina took the first step into the store, eyeing the mannequins and the clothes draped onto them curiously. The mannequins were dressed just like the majority of girls shopping in the mall today, and somehow that didn't surprise Shina. She looked at them some more, taking note of how generic and tacky the outfits looked. She wondered if the mannequins were dressed any different, the rest of the kids her age in the mall would dress accordingly to the lifeless mannequins.

 _"There's zero appeal to this outfit..."_ Shina thought to herself, as she walked closer to the mannequins and felt the fabric of the jacket one of them was wearing _," But, they must be doing something right if everyone wants to dress like this."_

Kiriko then saw a display deeper into the store that caught her eye, and then said to Shina," Do you wanna check out that section over there?"

Shina looked up, slightly surprised by what Kiriko was pointing to but nodded and let Kiriko lead her further into the store. Kiriko wandered into a section of the store, filled with bright clothes, though some of the styles weren't to her tastes. If anything, she was only here to admire the array of clothes they had to display. Kiriko then saw a table of accessories and picked up one that caught her eye.

"This is so cute!" Kiriko remarked, holding up a headband with bunny ears on it," And soft too!"

Kiriko held it out for Shina to hold and she took it into her hands gingerly. It was quite soft and Shina also found it cute, though it didn't seem like something that Kiriko would've liked. Shina then looked at the mirror on the table and considered trying it on, though she decided against it, worrying she might not have been the only one who thought of doing that.

"I like them, wanna get a matching pair?" Kiriko asked, her voice filled with excitement as she picked out an identical headband for herself.

"Sure." Shina responded before the two of them continued to walk around the store.

As the two of them continued to look around, they noticed that the store's customers were almost exclusively girls their age, but yet, somehow they didn't feel as if they belonged despite the fact that they were in the majority.

The rest of the girls in store were gathered in groups no smaller than four, and they walked past the displays of the stores as if they had been here countless amounts of time, knowing where to find exactly what they wanted, if even the store rearranged their sections and displays every couple of days. Watching the rest of the girls reminded Shina of the archetype she always saw portrayed on her dramas, the popular girls. Always making sure they looked good when they stepped out the house, though for them they somehow managed to make it look effortless, drawn to large groups and known for getting all the attention, these were the type of girls that Shina had seen too many times in both real life and dramas. Though lately, she had been paying more attention to them than usual.

As Kiriko and Shina were waiting in line to pay for their headbands, Kiriko took notice of Shina staring at the girls in front of them.

"Do you know them?" Kiriko asked her, snapping Shina back to her senses, who only shook her head in response.

"No, I was just looking at their clothes." Shina admitted awkwardly with a chuckle,"...It's a common style they've got on I guess. It looks...interesting to say the least."

Kiriko nodded in response, though she didn't feel as if she fully understood what Shina was getting at. Once the two of them paid for their items, they exited the store and continued to walk around the mall again. Kiriko was too busy admiring the stores in the mall she had yet to step foot in to realize Shina had fallen quiet again.

Every time Shina wanted to say something, to speak about what had been on her mind these last few days, she fought against herself and remained silent. She watched another group of high-school girls, chatting among each other, probably fully capable of dishing out secrets with each other. Shina wished she had that ability right now, feeling herself grow frustrated as she continued her attempts to voice what was on her mind.

Just start off small, and work your way towards it, she had been reminding herself of these steps for days and only now did they cross her mind for today.

"You know, you never really struck me as the really girly type. But it's a pleasant surprise." Shina remarked as the two of them walked around the mall,"...You looked really happy in the store when you saw the headbands, it was nice."

"Oh well, I've always liked those kinds of accessories and cute things. I've just been a little nervous to show that side of myself." Kiriko explained sheepishly," But...speaking about that, you seem kind of different today, is something bothering you?"

Shina's eyes opened up wide, not realizing that Kiriko had caught on to her," Well...I've been thinking about my...um. Let's put it this way!"

Shina then put one knee on top of the seat they decided to sit at and placed her hands on her hips, wearing a determined look on her face as she said in a strange tone," As of lately, I've been doing some self-reflection."

"Self-reflection?" Kiriko repeated with a blank look on her face, with Shina nodding in response.

"I feel this era in my life needs to be put to rest." Shina said stoically, still using that weird tone.

"Do you mind elaborating?" Kiriko requested with an awkward chuckle.

Shina took a seat back down, looking down at the floor as she hesitantly said," I'd like to be like everyone else. I want to be that kind of girl who's got a bunch of girls to gossip to and have no trouble in getting...getting..."

"Getting...?"

Shina had a frustrated expression on her face and eventually blurted out," Have you ever felt really strongly about someone, but you had this doubt that it wouldn't work out between you two? Or they'd reject you because you weren't the kind of girl they were looking for?"

"Ah...so you have a crush, right?" Kiriko asked, with Shina sighing and nodding hesitantly in response.

Shina then laughed at herself, and responded with," Maybe you wouldn't understand, especially when you've got a bunch of guys thinking you're pretty. I like who I am, but...if the one I like most doesn't then, do I have any other choice? I don't want to feel like I won't stand a chance, that it'll never happen. I want to become someone that I'd be confident my...crush would like back."

"But Shina, if you had to change yourself for them, would you be happy?" Kiriko pointed out to her," If your crush doesn't like you for who you are, it's their loss. You're a really fun person to be around and if your crush can't see those good qualities in you, then changing yourself won't fix anything."

Shina studied Kiriko for a few moments, not in full agreement as she knew it was likely Kiriko had never been in the same position. But, then she remembered, Kiriko was going through something similar, to a greater extent too.

"Are you...speaking from experience?" Shina asked her.

Bounce stood in the parking lot of the mall, eyeing her surroundings in a rather curious manner as she stretched out her arms. So this had been one of the infamous malls that enslaved the masses she heard about. It wasn't as exciting as she expected, if anything, it just seemed to be quite cluttered judging from the view she got from a nearby window.

"Well, with an environment with this many people, there's gotta be a chance that I find the Mage's Patchwork Heart in here!" Bounce said to herself as she conjured up a set of black diamonds, before she considered stepping foot inside the mall. Bounce then heard the chatter of kids walking out of the mall. Bounce looked over their way and noticed that the two of them had matching bunnies. Looking at the bunnies gave Bounce an idea, and so she disappeared into the mall.

Kiriko and Shina eventually wandered into a toy store, much to Kiriko's delight. The store was filled to the brims with all kinds of toys, and the sight made Kiriko's heart race. Toys for babies, for kids, bright ones, interactive ones, soft plushies, they were all here and Kiriko hadn't felt such a strong sense of belonging in such a long while.

Though Shina didn't fully understand why Kiriko was so euphoric inside the store, she was glad to see Kiriko enjoying herself and looked through the store with her. She noticed a lot of girls swarming towards the collection of toys for the iconic bunny plush toy Bellini, that had taken toy store by storm over the past decade and almost went to join them. But then, another plush caught her eye.

It was a pastel green and pink frog with silly looking eyes and rosy cheeks, with his tongue sticking out too. Shina smiled at the frog and took him into her hands, taking note of how soft it was.

Meanwhile, Kiriko found herself staring at a doll with an exquisite dress on and bright hair. Kiriko hadn't collected dolls in ages, since it was a somewhat costly hobby plus it was hard to enjoy it when she felt the need to hide it from everyone. But this doll was just so well-made, being pleasing to the eye with her ornate dress and colour scheme.

Kiriko stared at the doll longer and brought its box into her hands moments later. Even the box was well designed. Kiriko was considering buying it, but just then, she heard the sound of someone dropping to the ground. She turned around to find one of the girls at the Bellini display had fainted. Then, another girl dropped, and another. Kiriko and Shina watched the sight with panicked eyes as they tried figuring out what was going on.

"It must be the Bellini bunnies." Kiriko said to herself, though Shina heard her and didn't seem to be following. Shina watched Kiriko take out her phone to message someone and suddenly felt weak in the knees, collapsing to the ground but not falling unconscious like the rest of the girls.

"Shina! Are you alright?" Kiriko asked as she sat next to her, with Shina nodding weakly in response.

Shina stared at the frog plush she was still clutching on with a pained smile on her face, having a strange feeling that the plush was at fault for this.

Bounce then appeared in the toy store, impressed by her findings before she laid eyes on Kiriko and Shina.

"These are all going to make great Defectives, but they'll need someone to follow their lead." Bounce stated as her gaze met Shina's. Shina held onto the frog plush tighter, though she didn't know why she did that while Kiriko stepped in front of her holding out her hands.

"I'm not letting you lay a finger on my friend, understood?" Kiriko said to her sternly, though Bounce wasn't planning on compliance. Kiriko then looked around and noticed the Bellini bunnies were growing ten times in size and walking towards her.

"Go forth and corrupt her Patchwork Heart!" Bounce called out as a black diamond shot out from the frog plush Shina held onto and sunk into her chest. Shina was knocked unconscious and instead her own Patchwork Heart emerged out from her, tainted by the black diamond. Shina's Patchwork Heart then merged with the frog plush and a new Defective was created.

"I can't just wait around for them..." Kiriko said to herself as she took her PlayPact out from her pocket, running into the nearest corner of the store.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" She called out as an array of pink and purple lights flew out from her PlayPact.

"The Princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!" Dolly announced.

Dolly ran back to the scene and stood before Shina, feeling guilty for not doing anything before and only drew out a sigh before she turned to face the army of toys waiting for her. The Bellini bunnies were closing in on them and so, Dolly had to try fighting them all off simultaneously. She knew there was no way of fighting them altogether without her team, but then she looked up and noticed a stacked of boxed toys on the top shelf of the aisle in front of her. Dolly then leapt up and swung all the boxes down, confusing the Bellini bunnies greatly. Dolly looked down at them, trying to figure out what made them different from the frog Defective.

 _"I take it the Bellini bunnies aren't real Defectives, but I'm almost certain they're somehow leeching off of those girls who fell unconscious."_ Dolly thought to herself.

One of the Bellini bunnies then noticed Dolly on top of the shelf and attempted to grab Dolly despite the fact that she was at an altitude higher than they could reach. Dolly jumped off of the aisle's top shelf, before she realized the frog Defective had gone missing. Dolly was about to turn around to see where it went, but she found herself in the grasp of what appeared to be a tongue. Upon realizing that she really was wrapped within the Defective's tongue, Dolly screamed and tried breaking free from the Defective's grip. She didn't have any idea what to do, too disgusted by held with the Defective's tongue to try inflicting any damage towards the Defective. The Defective gripped her tighter the more she wiggled around in it's grip, but just then, the Defective was hit dead on with a flaming sphere and let go of Dolly without realizing it. Dolly dropped to the ground, her body sore upon the impact of the fall but she knew now was definitely no time to be complaining. She looked up and saw the rest of her team standing a few feet away from her, all of them except Teddy with their gaze set on the Bellini bunnies.

Teddy ran towards Dolly and helped her stand up saying," It's bad enough we've gotta deal with a slimy frog Defective, but a gang of ten-foot tall bunnies too? We really can't catch a break."

Dolly nodded in response as she looked at the Defective in front of the two of them. A wave of frustration came over Dolly, knowing she wouldn't likely be able to get through to this Defective since it didn't have an owner. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed Teddy had already started charging towards the Defective again, clearly more than willing to begin fighting the Defective the old-fashioned way.

Teddy jumped up high, ready to deliver a powerful kick towards the Defective, but the Defective opened up it's mouth and wrapped it's tongue around Teddy's ankle, launching her all the way to the other side of the store. Teddy crashed into a display made of collectible bobble-head figures and the Defective laughed at the sight of Teddy trying to get back up. Dolly then looked at the Defective curiously, usually a normal Defective wouldn't be able to feel enjoyment or any type of emotion for that matter. Dolly's eyes then widened in realization and she ran in front of the Defective saying,

"Do you really think anyone would approve of your actions right now, including the one you like most?"

"I don't care what anyone thinks!" The Defective exclaimed as it threw down a punch in Dolly's direction," I never have and I never will!"

Dolly leapt up and stood on a giant crate filled with balls and she said," You're only saying that 'cuz your crush isn't here. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of this 'can't be bothered to care' attitude, but when your hurting people in the process, that's where I gotta draw the line."

Bubbly and Fantasy had just finished up their fight against the Bellini bunnies, who had been depleted of all their stamina, which wasn't all that surprising since they weren't actual Defectives. The two of them were just about to help Dolly in battling against the real Defective, but Dolly wouldn't allow them, simply putting out her arm in front of them to keep them away from the Defective.

Dolly only walked up to the Defective, an anxious feeling creeping up in her heart as she inched closer. Shina was right, she hadn't been through the exact same thing as her, trying to conform and act a certain way for someone she loved, but the idea of changing yourself to please others was without a doubt something that resonated with her.

"I know you're better than this, and I understand your frustration. But just because you're unhappy with yourself, it doesn't give you the right to take it out on others." Dolly reminded the Defective," Plus, I'm certain doing all this damage isn't going to make you feel better for long."

The three other Cures wore matching nervous looks on their faces as Dolly went and approached the Defective, none of them could tell if her words got through the Defective. If one thing was for sure though, it was that the Defective seemed weary of Dolly, cautiously taking steps back as the blonde Cure tried getting closer.

"You don't mean any of what you just said! You're only trying to trick me into siding with you!" The Defective clamored as it fretfully took steps away from Dolly," Can't you tell I don't have any interest in what you have to say?"

The Defective walked itself into a corner and Dolly got closer to it, so the Defective started to sputter out the first things that came to its mind.

"You don't really care about me! You could never understand me, so don't try and act like you do!" The Defective shouted to her, but Dolly wasn't really listening at this point.

Dolly was just a few inches away from the Defective now and said to it," Are you serious? You're trying to tell _me_ of all people that I could never understand? I was just like you a few months ago. I can't guarantee it'll be soon, but I know things will get better if you stay true to yourself. Now, it seems as your heart's been manipulated by Asperity and those are the ones who don't care about you. All they want is to have you do their bidding and I'm sure you wouldn't want that. So would you be able to trust me and my team to help bring you back to normal?"

The Defective just sat there quietly, a defeated expression on its face before it extended out its hand to Dolly for her to shake it. Dolly then smiled to the Defective, using both of her hands to shake the hand of the Defective as said softly,

"I'm sorry this had to happen to you in the first place, I promise I won't let it happen to you again."

Dolly looked back to her fellow Cures and flashed them a thumbs-up and she conjured up her scepter, with the rest of the Cures following suite. They all inserted their toy toppers into their scepters, transforming into their upgraded forms.

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!" The four of them called out.

They held out their scepters up high and shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"

The Defective was purified by a mass of shimmery white lights smothering it, restoring the Defective to it's regular plush form and letting Shina's Patchwork Heart return to her.

Once Shina's Patchwork Heart returned to her, Shina awoke along with the girls who had feinted near the Bellini bunny display shortly after. The store was a complete mess thanks to the frog Defective but thankfully, no one had got hurt in the fight.

When Shina woke up, she found Kiriko and the rest of her team helping out the store associates to put the displays back together. Shina was puzzled, unsure of what happened when she was knocked out. She could only recall the sight of the girls at the Bellini bunny display fainting one after the other, but the rest remained a mystery to her. Then she realized she had been holding onto the frog plush from earlier. She looked down at it and hugged it tight, having a strange feeling as if the frog appeared in her dream.

"Well after today, there's no way I could go home without you." Shina said to the frog as she smiled to it," And I know just the perfect name for you! How does Tadashi sound?"

Kiriko and the girls were just about finished with cleaning up the store when Kiriko had locked her sights on the doll from earlier. After looking at the doll for a few more moments, taking greater care to admire all the details, Asuna cleared her throat and ultimately led Kiriko's train of thought to crash.

"Are you going to buy it?" Asuna asked her, with Kiriko turning rigid upon realizing everyone had been watching her look at the doll.

Kiriko then looked at the doll once more and nodded her head confidently as she said," Definitely!"

Bounce ambled through an emptied hallway in the mall, scratching the back of her head before she leaned against one of the walls.

"Well, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone today in making a Defective and searching for that Patchwork Heart here, but it looks like everyone cleared out after the Defective was summoned." Bounce said to herself with a sigh," How was I supposed to know that was going to happen."

Just then, Rubix appeared in front of Bounce, an expectant look on her face. Well, somewhat expectant since Rubix's face was usually without expression.

"I found them." Rubix declared tonelessly, though a very small smile appeared on her face.

"Seriously?! Wait, which one? Arabella or the King's Patchwork Heart?" Bounce questioned as Rubix lightly took hold of her wrist.

"Both. Let's get out here, we need to plan out how to approach them." Rubix said to her before they disappeared back to Asperity.


	34. Sophie's apprentice

Sophie awoke earlier than usual on this warm Saturday morning, her alarm buzzing precisely at seven. Sophie was never all that fond of her alarm clock and often wondered why someone would invent such a heinous object. But today, her thoughts were elsewhere as she made breakfast for her four younger siblings.

Today, Erik and Liam would begin their first day on their soccer team, while Anika and Inna were going to their first day of ballet practice. All four kids were very excited, practically bouncing in their seats as Sophie each brought them their plates. The boys had matching soccer uniforms on, while the girls had matching light pink leotards and stockings. Sophie smiled as she watched her siblings scarf down their breakfast, she knew she just had to get a couple of photos of the four before they set off for their big day. Sophie looked out the window, noticing an awful lot of clouds in the sky and decided it'd be best to have her mini photo-session indoors where she'd probably get better lighting.

From upstairs, Sophie could hear her dad getting ready in the washroom, taking a shower and singing while he did. Sophie sighed, despite all the 'practice' he had, Sophie's father Ikenna was undeniably tone-deaf. But, at least he was making the kids laugh with his inability to sing.

Ikenna told his eldest daughter that she didn't need to wake the four of them up, but Sophie was insistent and already knew the kids wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Plus the kids were definitely more likely to listen to her than her somewhat of a pushover father.

While the kids had their breakfast, Sophie ate with them, reaching for a box of oatmeal while looking through her notifications on her phone. When she opened her Instagram page, she noticed she had received a direct message from a name that sounded familiar though she couldn't put a face to her.

 _"Hi Sophie, I hope you've been having a good day. Anyways, my name is Amina and I'm an upcoming model who'd like to get some pointers from you. I've seen your work and I absolutely love posts on your page, not to mention you seem like someone who'd be super fun to spend some time with! Hope to hear from you soon. Best, Amina Karim."_

Curiously, Sophie then went onto Amina's page and was shocked at what she had found. With over three hundred thousand followers and actually getting to see photos of her, Sophie had no trouble in recognizing Amina now.

Amina's latest post was a picture of her standing next to a cardboard movie poster display and giving a thumbs-up and the movie was the live-action Princess Parisa: Fabled Origins, which Amina starred in as Parisa. The post had received a bunch of likes and comments with a caption that read 'Mom, you wouldn't believe what I did!'.

"No way!" Sophie exclaimed, moments before she tried showing the message to her sisters. But then, she stopped herself from doing so, deciding it'd be better that she told them later so they'd have an easier time focusing on their ballet lessons today.

Sophie texted Amina back immediately, expressing her interest in helping her out and asked if she'd be able to meet today. Sophie waited around expectantly, though she already knew she wouldn't likely receive a message back until hours later, when most people were up and functioning as usual. So in the meantime, she sent a text to someone who she knew was notorious for sleeping in on weekends, but would've been perfect for Amina to meet up with. As Sophie finished typing up her message and pressed send without question, she went upstairs to see if any of her siblings left anything behind that they would've needed today.

Mari was still in bed way past nine, knowing all too well that oversleeping wasn't good for her but it was unfortunately one of her few guilty pleasures. Plus, it was a Saturday, a day devoted to rest (kinda) abject from any obligations whatsoever where she could just do as she pleased whenever she pleased. Especially since she didn't have anything planned for today, except touching up her roots. But she decided she may as well check through her phone just in case she received a message and to her surprise, she actually did.

 _"Hey Mari, I have something really cool I have planned for today that involves some photo taking. Are you free to hang out this afternoon?"_ The message read.

Mari scratched her head, deciding now would likely be a good time to get out of bed as she reached for her glasses. She then looked outside her window curiously, wondering how the rest of the day would go.

After a couple of hours, Sophie and Mari were gathered at Sophie's school courtyard to take meet up with Amina. Sophie was beyond nervous as she awaited Amina, rambling into Mari's ear about how this was such a big deal to her and how her sisters loved how Amina starred as Princess Parisa in the movie. At this point, Mari was getting close to tuning out Sophie from her chatting Mari's ear off. Mari's thoughts then traveled to how surprising it actually was to see Sophie so excited over this girl. Mari didn't know very much about Sophie's career but at the very least, she would've expected Sophie to have a bit more composure to herself. It seemed as if she like the Princess Parisa franchise as much as her sisters, maybe even more.

"Oh my god, that's her!" Sophie yell-whispered as she shook Mari's arm in a near violent manner," Do I look ok? Nothing in my teeth, right? Oh good glory, what do I even say to her?!"

"Sophie remember, she's just like you and me. I think she'd like it best if you treated her like a normal person." Mari advised sheepishly, with Sophie nodding vigorously in agreement.

Amina waved goodbye to her chauffeur before they parted ways and walked over to Sophie and Mari with a giant smile on her face. When she got closer to Sophie, she gave her a big hug. Amina was very pretty, with very curly dark brown hair reaching her shoulders that bounced with every step she took and dark brown eyes to match. Her fair skin paired with her dark hair made Sophie remind her of Snow White, though Amina seemed much more outgoing.

"It's so nice to finally meet you Sophie!" Amina greeted, that giant smile still on her face.

Sophie was speechless, with nothing but a smile as big as Amina's on her face with Mari giggling from behind them. Sophie then did her best to collect herself, clearing her throat as she said,

"Me too, I'm sort of a fan of you, I loved seeing you play Parisa in the Princess Parisa movie!" Sophie gushed awkwardly," Anyways, I'll make sure we get a bunch of stuff covered this afternoon, I even brought my friend Mari here so we can take some trial shots!"

Amina waved to Mari, before putting a determined look on her face as she said," I'll do my very best today and absorb everything you two teach me!"

Sophie showed Amina some basic tips about getting your photo taken and did her best to make sure she was ready by having her stand as she normally did and see what could be improved on. Sophie noticed Amina's shoulders were awfully tense and poked them saying,

"You don't need to be so tense, otherwise you'll look uncomfortable in your shots."

Amina nodded attentively, taking out her little notebook from her bag and writing down Sophie's directions.

Mari then took a candid of the two of them talking, feeling quite pleased with how the shot turned out. It was no surprise that Sophie looked great in the photo but even the rookie model looked quite photogenic in the shot, it gave Mari an odd sense of pride from looking at it.

"Amina, I hear you live in London, so what are you doing here in our little town?" Mari asked her as Sophie took hold of her camera to look at the photo just taken.

"Oh, I'm doing a meet and greet next weekend with my fans in Tokyo, and I just wanted to immerse myself in Japan before then." Amina explained, before she twirled around and stretched her arms out," Japan is so beautiful, you guys have great food, the people are really nice, you got a lot of fantastic anime stores, you're both sooo lucky you get to live here! When I grow old, I wanna live my days out here in a nice little town like this!"

 _"Growing old with Amina...that sounds kinda nice."_ Sophie thought to herself as she stared at the photo taken of the two of them.

"Hey Sophie, have you lived in Japan all your life?" Amina asked curiously as she was testing out some of her own modeling poses.

Sophie shook her head, saying," I was born in Canada and moved here when I was eight. I've gone back a few times to visit family, but my last visit proved I was really...out of my element when talking to my older cousins."

"Ah, lemme guess, language barrier?" Amina asked as she twirled around.

Sophie thought back to her last visit, since the term "language barrier" didn't seem like much of a fit, since she could understand what they were saying, but how they were saying it was messing with her comprehension since they used an awful lot of slang.

"Something like that..." Sophie said sheepishly as she handed the camera back to Mari," Anyways, before we do some more model stuff, I was curious to know...what made you want to be a model?"

Amina stood quietly, deep in thought as she tried to find the right words. This was most likely the quietest she had been all day and it was almost uncharacteristic for her, so Sophie and Mari knew her answer was going to be really good.

"Well, to be honest, I've wanted to do modeling ever since I was young. But the problem was...I think I was just too young, or rather...immature and not to mention insecure at the time." Amina explained with a forced chuckle as she thought back to her younger days," I originally tried being a model first, but I was told I just wasn't ready yet. Though they didn't really explain to me why."

"Well, that's not helpful of them." Mari pointed out flatly as she focused her lens on Amina.

Amina chuckled in response saying," You're telling me. It was probably because they didn't see any potential in me to begin with. When I was younger I was really skinny and short, I honestly looked really awkward in my photos when I was younger, but I was so intent on modeling, you wouldn't believe."

Amina kept on laughing, though she seemed a bit tense as she spoke and Sophie then said," Well, in this day and age, I don't think taking a nice photo is very hard, but...that really isn't all there is to modeling, at least not to me."

Amina nodded in understanding, asking her," So, what was it that made you want to start modeling?"

Sophie took a seat on the grass and motioned the two of them to follow suite. Once they were all seated, Sophie stared up to the sky for a few moments, trying to collect and organize her thoughts.

"Well, I guess it was just seeing a lack of models that looked like me I guess." Sophie began briskly," Back then, I guess industry standards were a bit different, but...I noticed all the models had a certain look and feel to them. Especially models with my complexion. A lot of them were to look very mature, but I never really enjoyed that style, I liked cute clothes a lot more but, nobody was wearing anything cute that really caught my eye. So, I thought who better than to model the cute clothes of my dreams than me? Plus, with being a model, you get a bunch of opportunities like empowering young women and showing everyone that well, beauty lies within!"

"That's amazing!" Amina remarked," I think it'd be cool if you tried out Lolita fashion, I bet you'd look super cute in it!"

"Lolita is expensive though..." Mari pointed out to her sheepishly," But, Sophie can make dresses, so maybe it wouldn't cost as much?"

"Do you know how expensive cute fabrics can get though?" Sophie asked her, the thought of all the money she had spent on her last fabric haul running through her mind," I'm lucky if I can find some nice prints in the clearance section."

Amina nodded in understanding and then said," Modeling has left a big impact on your life, hasn't it? How different do you think your life would be if you didn't do modeling?"

"Very different." Sophie answered with a small chuckle," I've actually imagined it a few times before... I think some things would stay the same, like my inner circle of friends and my personality but...people would likely have an easier time approaching me."

Mari then chuckled awkwardly as Sophie's gaze then travelled to her lap, with the former saying in a rush," She's just feeling a bit off since well...there's this one person that seemed to be interested in being friends with Sophie, but...well, he puts her on a high pedestal, so he can't interact with her properly."

"He's apparently really good at math and was supposed to tutor me, but then I got ghosted three messages into our conversation." Sophie explained with a pout.

"Aww, I see. How did you guys meet, through a mutual friend?" Amina asked with Sophie nodding in response.

Asuna and Reo were studying for an upcoming test at the library down the road, when suddenly Reo sneezed out of nowhere. Asuna flinched, impulsively moving herself a few inches away since Reo failed to cover his mouth during his sneeze. He wiped his nose and returned to looking at his notes.

"You better not get me sick." Asuna advised him, her tone impatient," It's bad enough the material on this next test is super hard, but if I had to do it sick then there's an a hundred percent chance I'd fail at it."

"Relax, I'm not sick." Reo replied flatly," I guess I just have some secret admirer gossiping about me to her friends~"

Asuna simply rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed with his response, especially when he hadn't voiced any interest in the one girl who may have been willing to give him a chance. She mentioned Sophie a few times during these last couple of weeks in front of Reo when they hung out with their friends, but instead of acting all high and mighty, being totally certain he could win Sophie's heart, he instead said nothing and only listened to the conversation with unreadable looks on his face. Ever since that day when Sophie and Reo unofficially met at the China Doll cafe, Reo was slowly turning into a frantic mess at the thought of Sophie, to the point where he'd rather flat out ignore her than make a fool of himself in front of her. Asuna wasn't sure what she had expected from him, but that certainly wasn't something she saw coming. She had been tempted to try and arrange a blind study date of sorts for the two of them, but Asuna wasn't sure of how Reo would act in front of Sophie so she kept the idea as just an idea.

"I don't know why any girl would wanna talk about you to her friends, considering the fact that you're just a geek in a jock's body." Asuna jeered, flinging the hair tie she had on her wrist towards Reo. Reo barely caught it and narrowed her eyes at her.

Asuna was tempted to point out how the only girl who would've displayed interest in him was the same one he was pushing away, but she kept her mouth shut. Just then, Asuna's phone started ringing and she sighed loudly, already well-aware of who might've been calling her at this hour.

Asuna answered the phone and Sophie started chattering away in the phone at a mile a minute, far too quick for Asuna to understand what she was trying to say, but all she heard was " Come to the school" and "Bring Reo".

Asuna took the phone away from her ear for a second, looking at the phone in disbelief as she said," What the hell is she planning?"

Sophie brought the phone away from her ear as she finished the call, saying to Mari who stood in front of her," Why did you make me do that?"

"Amina needs to see that being a model means that you don't have to jeopardize your normal life, that being successful doesn't just mean your name is known to all and basic needs must be pushed aside. It means you can still have both a close circle of friends and have your dreams reached. " Mari explained to her, though Sophie wasn't fully convinced.

"Alright, so why did you tell me to make Asuna bring Reo?" Sophie asked her suspiciously.

"Well...he doesn't know you very well yet and what better way than to show Amina that models are normal people than have a guy realize that in front of you?"

"Mari, I don't like your thought process." Sophie stated with a pout while Mari chuckled off her comment.

"You don't have to, anyways, we gotta try to get a hold of Kiriko so she can help make some notes for Amina to study from." Mari reminded her as she motioned her to make the call," Amina won't learn from only practical lessons."

A few minutes later, Sophie and Mari were beyond surprised that Asuna and Reo arrived with such good timing. When they asked the pair about how they were able to get here so quickly, Asuna explained to them that the two were studying at the library down the road.

"Wow, I really wouldn't have expected you to be studying on the weekend. I'm guessing you have a really hard test coming up?" Sophie questioned with a giggle, though Asuna didn't seem as amused as her. If anything, she appeared to be annoyed by being reminded that her Saturday was being wasted on studying, and now whatever was going on here.

"Okay guys, so I'd like you to meet my...apprentice, Amina Karim." Sophie introduced as she awkwardly gestured towards Amina. Amina waved towards them and walked over to Asuna, offering a hug, though Asuna seemed unwilling so Amina just shook both her hands instead.

"Sophie's been teaching the basics all morning, but now I think we're transitioning into the more psychological basics and basically the proper goals to keep in mind as a model." Amina explained," Sophie's a really good teacher, you're lucky to have such a nice friend!"

Asuna's eyes narrowed slightly at Amina, thinking to herself _," She's too pure."_

Mari then cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, saying," So...I think something we should try to do as a team is to highlight Sophie's strengths as both a model and a person, to demonstrate to Amina what's been working for her. Since chances are, the same things might also work out for Amina."

Asuna then whispered into Sophie's ear," Did you guys try dragging Kiriko into this too?"

"Kiriko's at work, but she said she'll try to be of help through texting when she can." Sophie whispered back to her.

Mari then directed her attention to Asuna, saying," Asuna, why don't you start us off?"

"What, why? I...haven't collected my thoughts just yet. You can come back to me." Asuna stated with a wave of dismissal.

Mari seemed a bit irritated, but didn't say anything in disagreement and instead chose to start.

"Ok, well...one of Sophie's strengths is that she is willing to accept constructive criticism. Sophie invites critique knowing well that she will become better from it. Sophie is also naturally photogenic, and photographers can't get enough of her because of it. But, Sophie also is very good at staying humble, being able to appreciate what she has as of right now which something others would likely take for granted. I think one of the reasons Sophie's been able to become successful is because she stays true to herself no matter what. Through and through, Sophie knows what she stands for, and will always strive towards her goals."

Asuna and Reo didn't say a word, both of them impressed with Mari's summary. Amina looked at Mari with an inquisitive look on her face, nodding in understanding while Sophie unexpectedly threw her arms around Mari saying,

"Mari, you're too nice to me!"

Mari chuckled awkwardly as she replied with," I was just being honest. You just don't give yourself enough credit."

Asuna's phone then vibrated and she grabbed it out from her pocket without thinking and informed the group that Kiriko had a response ready.

"I guess I can just read it on her behalf." Asuna stated as she looked at the text on her screen.

"Sophie a good friend who will have always smile on her face. She talented and is a good member to our team, fighting hard with-" Asuna read out, before Mari clamped her mouth shut, knowing where the rest of this text was going.

 _"Damn it Kiriko, you weren't supposed to mention anything about our Pretty Cure duties in this."_ Mari thought to herself as she sighed before she glared towards Asuna _," That text was pretty choppy too, work must be busy for her."_

"Fighting?" Amina repeated with a blank look on her face with Sophie nodding vigorously in response, trying to formulate some kind of excuse.

"Of course! As a model, you don't just only eat healthy and exercise to keep a good figure!" Sophie pointed out to her," Many models take up a sport or something to stay in shape and um...I do kickboxing from time to time!"

"That's so cool!" Amina exclaimed, with Asuna and Mari wearing skeptic looks on their faces. Sophie just laughed awfully loud, pretending to be humbled by Amina's comment while Reo just kept staring at her.

 _"I hope I don't have to take part in this, I don't even know what I'd say about her..."_ Reo thought to himself as his face turned red from staring at Sophie too long _," I don't know her well enough, and if I only comment on her looks, they'll think I'm shallow or something..."_

"Reo, do you have anything you'd like to say about Sophie?" Mari asked Reo, who only looked at her with nervous eyes," You don't have to if you don't feel comfortable doing so."

"Um...you're really tall and hot?" Reo blurted out, with all the girls looking at him questionably. Reo was already feeling regret in his few words about Sophie's 'advantages' and kept his gaze away from the disapproving looks from the girls.

 _"Could he be any dumber?"_ Asuna thought to herself, feeling the temptation of punching him in the arm for his response.

Sophie didn't seem the slightest bit appalled or annoyed, only wearing a pitied expression on her face as she thought to herself _, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..."_

"So..." Domino began, looking towards the empty library parking lot from on top of a bench,"Would you like to tell me why you wanted tag along today?"

Domino looked over to Bounce, awaiting her response as she tried getting the attention of a calico cat underneath the bench.

"Cuz I hate working with Rubix." Bounce said flatly, though her expression was strangely cheerful," Plus she said she didn't want my help today."

Bounce started petting the cat, smiling brightly since Domino wouldn't make her cast it away now that he didn't experience his allergies. Perhaps that was the only true advantage to his modifications.

"So, what's the plan today boss?" Bounce asked as she stood up, expecting Domino to have a set of blueprints at hands reach that he would show her. But, today Domino was empty-handed, too consumed in other thoughts to even try to draft out a plan that would ultimately fail in the end.

"We'll just...make a Defective and charge through the town, like always." Domino stated tonelessly, though Bounce seemed unsatisfied with this response.

She took a closer look at Domino, inspecting him to see if something was off, though it wasn't like she'd be able to tell either way.

"That's it? No gimmicks, or crazy elaborate operations?" Bounce asked, taking a closer look at Domino," You sure that's all you got for your plan?"

Domino nodded once in response and Bounce drew herself away from Domino, saying in her head _," He's really been out of it since Jack's defeat. He hasn't been getting any better either. I don't want to see Asperity lose another member, so we need to do really well today."_

Bounce then threw an excited look on her face saying,"Well, either way, let's give it our all today!"

Sophie, Amina and Mari continued on with the practical side of today's modelling lessons, while Asuna and Reo sat by a tree pretending to study. Asuna was still chiding Reo for his thoughtless comments, and at this point Reo was beyond tired of hearing about how he screwed up today.

Finally Reo blurted out," Well, what did you expect me to say? It's not like I know her personally."

Asuna squinted at him, saying," You could've by now."

Reo shrugged and then responded with," Bro, I'm just out of her league. She's all famous and stuff, literally teaching other people her modelling tricks while I'm out here studying for a math test."

"You're comparing apples to oranges." Asuna pointed out to him," By the end of the day, Sophie isn't any different from us. She won't get offended if you treat her like a normal person, to be honest, that's all she wants."

Reo kept quiet for a few moments, only staring at the ground as he thought hard about Asuna's words. Just then, a thought then appeared into Reo's mind, something that had crossed his mind before but he never asked about until now.

"Again, how did you become friends with her?" Reo questioned, leading Asuna to look at him wide-eyed without a response. Reo wasn't all that surprised that Asuna wasn't fully sure of what to say, the fact that the two of them became friends was already suspicious, so chances were, Asuna wasn't in a position to explain anything.

Just then, Bounce appeared before them, hanging upside down from the tree and staring at Reo who sat only a few inches away from her. Bounce smiled to him and held out a plush toucan toy in front of him and asked,

"Would this happen to be yours?"

"No." Reo responded tonelessly, an unimpressed look appearing on his face as Bounce leapt off from the tree and stood between him and Asuna. Asuna glared at Bounce, who paid zero attention to her and only held out a black diamond between her fingers.

Asuna then stood up and finally said to Bounce," Don't you people have anything better to do at this point?"

To Asuna's surprise, Bounce turned away from Reo to face her, grabbing her by the scruff of her shirt while saying," You're the one hanging around school on a Saturday, are you really in a position to ask me that?"

Reo attempted to intervene, asking,"Asuna, do you know this girl-?"

Just then, from a few meters away, Domino launched a black diamond shard directly towards Reo hitting him directly in the chest and causing his Patchwork Heart to get tainted. Reo dropped to his knees, unsure of what just happened while Bounce let go of Asuna and tossed the toucan plush up into the air.

"Do your worst, Defective!" Bounce called out.

Reo's Patchwork Heart emerged out of him and was in the possession of the toucan plush now. The toucan plush grew ten feet in size and was set on destroying everything it its path, starting with Asuna who only watched the Defective nervously while slowly taking out her phone and PlayPact.

"Defective!" The monstrous toucan roared.

Asuna had been holding her phone up, recording the cry of the Defective. She ended the recording and sent it to Kiriko moments after.

"That should get her to come." Asuna said to herself before returning her attention to the matter at hand," Sophie, take Amina inside the school, Mari and I will...follow after you!"

Sophie nodded, grabbing a hold of Amina's wrist and dragging her towards the school.

"Hey wait, shouldn't we try to get a hold of the authorities first?" Amina pointed out, still running behind Sophie," Ooh what if this is some kind of PR stunt?"

By the time the two of them reach the inside of the school, Sophie was feeling out of breath, slamming her hand against the wall to keep herself from falling down. She then looked towards Amina, who still failed to experience any sense of danger, only intrigued by the giant toucan and its mysterious motives. Amina was watching the Defective battle against the two newcomers dressed up in strange outfits while Sophie tried pulling her attention away from the Defective.

"Whoa, I feel like I'm watching some kinda live-action Super Sentai fight!" Amina remarked, her face pressed against the door's glass window.

"Amina, whatever you do, you can't step out ok? Not until the toucan monster is gone. In the meanwhile, I'm going to try to bring Mari and Asuna back inside." Sophie declared as she tried leaving to help her team, but Amina prevented her from doing so.

"Wait a minute, you just told me it's too dangerous to go outside, so what makes it ok for you to leave?" Amina questioned as she placed her hand around Sophie's arm," Don't try saying anything like your life isn't as important as mine, otherwise you're definitely not leaving."

Sophie looked at Amina apprehensively, chiding herself mentally for putting herself in such a situation. Sophie then took a deep breath and placed both of her hands onto Amina's and said,

"Amina, I have a secret I need you to keep. I may not have known you for long, but I trust you can keep it. " Sophie declared in a solemn voice, holding out her PlayPact and taking a step outside.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" Sophie shouted, a mass of yellow, blue and orange lights flowing out from her PlayPact.

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!" Bubbly announced.

Amina was at a loss of words for once, slowly bringing her hands to the glass window but fighting the urge to open it and ask Sophie the first hundred questions that came to her mind. But then, one thought came to her that somehow led her to making sense of the situation. She smiled and then said to herself as Bubbly ran off,

"She's like Princess Parisa!"

When Bubbly ran back to the scene, she found Teddy, Fantasy and Dolly fighting against the Defective, seemingly unmatched in strength. The toucan plush turned Defective seemed awfully fond of flapping its wings about as a form of attacking, so the Cures couldn't even hope to come close to the Defective without getting smacked away. Bubbly skidded to a stop as she got close enough to the Defective, watching with nervous eyes as her teammate Fantasy took a defensive stance while Teddy and Dolly tried to attack again.

As soon as the Defective flapped its wing down, Dolly took on the attack, but Teddy dodged, jumping to the back of the Defective and charging up her hands for an attack.

"Pretty Cure, Flaming Ring of Hope!" She shouted as she pointed her index finger to the Defective. A bright orange ring appeared from out of her finger, but the Defective flapped its large wings again, ultimately destroying the ring Teddy created before it could even trap the Defective.

Teddy sighed, landing on the ground with Dolly running towards her.

"Damn, if we could make the Defective unable to use its wings, even if it was for a few moments, we'd actually stand a chance." Dolly stated with Teddy nodding in response," If we can't detain it, what else can we...?"

Dolly's gaze fell on Bubbly and an idea came to her. Dolly was going to call out to her to tell her the plan she just thought of, but Bubbly started running towards the Defective without warning. Dolly extended her hand out in hopes that it'd get Bubbly to switch gears and hear her out, but then Dolly realized Bubbly likely had the same plan she had in mind. Dolly paid close attention to her movements and was certain of Bubbly's next move, so she started running after her to provide back up. Once Dolly got close enough, she then motioned Fantasy and Teddy to follow after her.

Bubbly continued to run towards the Defective, taking a leap forward, but the Defective curled its wing around her ankle and held onto her tight. Bubbly weakly attempted to free herself the grip of the Defective, but there wasn't any hope for her break free even with the all of effort she put in.

"How is that even possible?" Teddy questioned with a scoff as her eyes narrowed in on the toucan holding Bubbly still. The toucan swung its wing back while still holding onto Bubbly and Dolly gestured everyone to get out of the way.

"It's gonna toss Bubbly our way!" Dolly said to them as she ran for cover, with Teddy following behind, but Fantasy didn't move.

Just before Bubbly was tossed, she placed her hands out in front of herself and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Bubbling Typhoon!"

A pair of gigantic water tendrils emerged from out of her hands and completely soaked the Defective from head to toe. The Defective was shot back a far distance, letting go of Bubbly in the process. Bubbly landed on her feet, and looked over to the rest of her team, yelling,

"Follow me, while the Defective's still soaked!"

The Cures followed after Bubbly, with Teddy asking, "Did she just come up with a new attack?"

Dolly shook her head slowly as she said while running," I've seen her use that before, at least...something similiar to it. Maybe she was just waiting for the right moment to debut it."

 _"Somehow, it wouldn't surprise me to think that Bubbly had been holding out on some new attacks and tricks."_ Dolly thought to herself _," Bubbly's probably a lot stronger than she lets us think."_

The Cures caught up to Bubbly and saw her standing in front of the Defective that had crashed against the school wall.

"Altogether now?" Bubbly asked as she conjured up her scepter.

The Defective to get back onto its feet, not quite ready to admit from such a short battle. It tried to push itself up, but to no avail and only glared at the Pretty Cure gathered before it, paying close attention to Bubbly.

"You...you don't really care about me!" The Defective blurted out, pointing its wing towards Cure Bubbly, "You're all famous, you'd never want to pay any attention to me, so stop pretending and making me look like a fool!"  
Teddy's eyes were aflame with anger, ready to pummel the Defective some more just for that comment, but Dolly and Fantasy held her back from doing so. Teddy fought to convince her teammates to let her get at least one punch in saying, "Can't you see this nimrod doesn't learn?"

"Just let Bubbly handle this." Dolly said to Teddy as she held her back," She probably understands how Reo's feeling better than us."

Teddy rolled her eyes but decided to let Bubbly do the talking. Bubbly however, wasn't as positive or calm as usual as she stared at the Defective for a few moments, her arms crossed as she tried deciding on her words with as much consideration as she could.

"I'm the one who doesn't care? You're the one who hasn't been giving me a chance!" Bubbly pointed out to the Defective sternly as she took a step closer to it," You've been thinking too much of how 'famous' I am, that you stopped thinking about my feelings in the process. I can't force you to be my friend, but if you want to get to know me, don't you think it'd be easier to treat me just like an average person?"

The Defective looked dumb-founded, trying to come up with something to say in retaliation, just to prove that it wasn't fully in the wrong. But, the more time it took to think of a response, the sooner it realized that Bubbly already won this argument.

"You know, I was really excited at the thought of making a new friend, since I don't have too many of my own, so my offer still stands." Bubbly said to the Defective, her tone more level and back to its usual cheery sound," But...before we become friends, we gotta fix you up. You've been uh, possessed by the bad guys and if you don't get turned back to normal, we'll probably have a hard time hanging out if you were to walk around the town as a giant toucan! You wouldn't want that, right? So if you'd like, me and my friends can help you become a regular person again!"

The three Cures looked at Bubbly sheepishly, knowing that Bubbly butchered the speech a little bit.

"Only if you don't go back on your word." The toucan replied quietly as a small smile appeared on its face as it looked at Bubbly.

"Of course!" Bubbly exclaimed, as she extended her hand out to the Defective so the two of them could shake on it. The Defective stared at her hand curiously for a few moments, but eventually shook hands, or rather wing, with her.

Bubbly turned to face her fellow Cures and gave them a thumbs up.

The rest of the team conjured up their scepters and pushed their toy toppers into their respective scepters, leading them to transform into their upgraded forms.

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!" The four of them called out.

They held out their scepters up high and shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"

The Defective was met with a horde of shimmering lights coming its way and purified the Defective, no longer a monstrous toucan but only an inanimate little plush.

The girls reversed their transformations and Sophie was the first to rush towards Reo to see if he was ok. Sophie sat by Reo's side, he was still unconscious but thankfully he appeared to be at ease. Sophie had been so worried about Reo, that she almost completely forgot about Amina, who walked out from the school once the Defective had disappeared and regrouped with the girls shortly after.

Reo had yet to come to after a long time, and Sophie felt the need to apologize to Amina for keeping her so long and not accomplishing too much these last few hours.

"I'm really sorry for this Amina, but maybe we should call it a day? I'd be more than happy to skype with you for some extra lessons if you'd like." Sophie suggested, with Amina nodding once in response before she and Sophie stood up.

"That's fine by me, I've learned a lot today, and I really appreciate and your help and getting to work with." Amina said as took hold of Sophie's hands," Thanks for everything today, be sure to keep to keep in touch, alright?"

Sophie nodded and Amina took her leave while the rest of the group waited around for Reo to awake. After awhile, Mari and Kiriko had to leave since it was getting late, leaving only Sophie and Asuna by his side waiting patiently.

When Reo eventually awoke, he was surprised to find both Asuna and Sophie at his side with concerned expressions directed at him. He felt somewhat uncomfortable under their gaze, but assumed that something must've happened to him in order to attract their attention like this.

"Uh, is everything ok?" Reo asked them," You guys are looking at me like y'all seen a ghost."

"You're fine. You just ran into a tree earlier and got knocked out cold for a little bit, nothing too spectacular." Asuna explained to him, but Reo wasn't buying it for a second.

"If you're gonna lie, at least make it convincing." Reo responded in an irritated voice but remembering that Sophie was present. Reo then turned his attention to only Sophie, feeling a bit awkward as he tried to maintain eye contact with her.

"So while I was knocked out, I had a crazy and I realized I haven't been the nicest person to you lately, well...I guess ever, but anyways, I'm sorry I've been pushing you away thinking that you're some kinda legend while you're just an ordinary person with likes and dislikes, who has feelings and stuff, and who apparently dislikes math and science..."

Sophie giggled at Reo's response, and finally Reo felt himself growing less tense around Sophie.

Amina was getting driven to her hotel, making a voice memo to herself to remember this very exciting. Amina was looking out the window, thinking about how it was only hours ago that she saw the unbelievable, a real life version of the character she played and started to smile at the thought of Sophie.

"Today's lesson is we may all lead very different lives as humans on this earth but we need to keep in mind we're not as different as we think." Amina said into her phone," We all feel very profound emotions, and these emotions and energies that we bounce off one another is what binds us together. We can't simply reject others because of what has been said about them but rather...we should try to join together in spite of those things."

Once Amina ended the voice memo, she then exclaimed to her driver," Today was so much fun, you wouldn't believe! I can't wait to see Sophie again!"

Elsewhere, specifically in the China Doll cafe, Eri had collapsed in the hallway with a pile of plates smashed from dropping on the ground. Her face was flushed red and she leaned against the wall to catch her breath. It was past closing time for the cafe so thankfully there weren't any guests around to witness her fall, but most of the staff had gone home for the evening. The only people left in the cafe were some of the kitchen staff and Kai.

"Are you alright?" Kai asked as they knelt next to Eri, before noticing how red her face was. They placed their hand against her forehead and found that she was burning up. They sighed, standing up to get a broom and dustpan for the broken dishes.

"You should've taken the day off, just take a seat at a booth or something and I'll get you some fever medication from bag." Kai instructed as they walked to the janitor's closet.

Once Kai retrieved the broom and dustpan in the janitor's closet, they cleaned up the broken dishes as quickly as they could and tossed it out in the garbage cans in the washrooms. Kai thought about Eri for a few moments and only shook their head. Eri had always been a bit naive but this was too much. It was likely she didn't even know what to do in the case of illness since she claimed to have grown up in a 'wealthy household'.

Kai closed their eyes, placing their hands against the sink counter as they said," She's so sheltered."

"That girl is a descendant of the kingdom, I won't allow you call her such things!" A voice then said to Kai. In front of Kai, where their own reflection was supposed to be, was a boy who seemed to be a few years older than him with teal hair that had a single lilac streak in it. His dressed like a prince with a grey tunic with violet trimming and a dark purple cape. Atop his head was blue and gold crown and he stared directly at Kai with an unforgiving look in his eyes, but Kai didn't seem to be the slightest bit confused or startled. They only looked at the figure as if they were an eyesore.

"From your make-believe kingdom right?" Kai asked quietly in an agitated voice,"Why do you keep showing up?"

The figure was hurt by Kai's comment but didn't show it and said sternly," I'm your former self, so why do you keep insisting that I'm not really here?"

Kai rolled their eyes and suddenly, a scream that sounded like it belonged to Eri filled the cafe. Kai bolted out of the washrooms and found Rubix in front of Eri who was now held within a neon purple barrier that appeared to be made from crystals.

"This has taken far too long." Rubix stated as she smiled down to Eri. Rubix then sense another familiar presence in the room and turned around to find Kai standing a few feet behind her.

"But, at least we've made lots of progress today." Rubix remarked as she laid her eyes on Kai, preparing herself to make another crystal encasement.


	35. Mari and the legendary toymaker

Mari's Sunday morning would've been just like any other today, a morning devoted to rest until noon where she wouldn't have to worry about homework since she'd finish it the day before, a day free of any form of over-exertion. But, because today was the last Sunday of the month, Mari had prior obligations.

The brunette rolled out of bed a little earlier than she wanted to, but she didn't mind since today was filled with plans she wouldn't dare miss out on, not even for a second. Mari got out of bed quickly, pulling out all the clothes she planned to wear today. Mari looked down at the light blue dress she decided on last night, smiling as she held it in front of herself while looking into her vanity mirror. Mari seldom wore dresses but today was a somewhat special occasion, so she thought it best to make an exception for today.

Since it was the last Sunday of the month, that meant the charity her mother worked at would have their monthly event where the fundraisers of the charity would visit local hospitals and spend the day hanging out with the kids there. Mari wasn't a fundraiser herself, but she was close with some of them because of her mom and the group was more than happy to have Mari tag along. Plus, the kids liked being around Mari too so the fundraisers thought it didn't hurt to bring one extra person.

Mari got ready quickly, taking a shower and getting dressed in less time than her parents who were coming with. When Mari was done getting ready, she sat downstairs with her bag beside her and made sure that everything she planned to carry with her was here.

Mari thought of everything that she could possibly need for today and it showed with how heavy her bag was, though luckily it didn't look it's weight, otherwise her parents might've told her to leave out some items so she wouldn't lose anything. A sketchbook with a pencil case, a tin of cookies, a knitting needle and some yarn, a clear box with jewelery making supplies plus a Polaroid made her bag feel as if Mari was transporting a ton of bricks, but she didn't seem to mind.

As Mari was making sure that she had everything in her bag, she then felt her PlayPact inside and was reminded of a little something that she failed to tell her parents about. Mari took the PlayPact out of her bag and then looked over to the staircase to see if her parents were nearby. With no sign of them, Mari sighed and gripped the PlayPact tightly. A lot of time had passed since Mari made the decision to tell her parents, and since then, she felt herself waver and was beginning to reconsider having them know about her Pretty Cure duties, especially since they were inching closer towards their final battle. Mari's mother was well-aware of what happened to Cure Cheer so obviously, she probably wouldn't have been able to bear the thought of her daughter sharing Cure Cheer's fate. So perhaps keeping it a secret would've been best.

"If she does find out and reacts just how I expected...I wouldn't blame her." Mari said to herself quietly as she trailed her fingers against the PlayPact's surface," She'd have every right to worry about me, so for that very reason, it's better off that this stays a secret from her."

"Mari, are you done getting ready? We'll be leaving soon, ok?!" Mari's dad shouted as he banged his fists against the door to Mari's bedroom. Mari narrowed her eyes at the sight of her dad at her bedroom door, not even the slightest bit surprised that he didn't realize she finished getting ready before them.

"Dad, I'm down here!" Mari shouted to him, startling him slightly.

The three of them were ready to leave soon enough and about an hour later, Mari could be found sitting in a circle with kids from the hospital doing activities like making bracelets and drawing. Mari watched the kids hard at work with a smile on her face, feeling more than glad that she brought both the sketchbooks and the jewelery making supplies with her today. Just then, her train of thought came to a halt when she heard the sound of a symphonica in the room. Mari looked over to the corner of the room and found one of the fundraisers, Rie, playing in front of a little crowd of children. The children seemed to be enjoying her playing, but many them wore an awe-struck look on their face. Mari noticed some new faces among Rie's audience so she assumed this was likely their first time hearing a symphonica.

When Rie took a break from playing, Mari approached her.

"Every time we come, the kids always get excited to see you play." Mari remarked as she sat down next to Rie, who smiled in response.

"I guess so, but it's not surprising." Rie said as she watched some of the smaller kids run past her and Mari," They don't get to do much when they spend their most of their time here anyways. You noticed most of them were in low spirits before we came in today, right?"

"Of course," Mari said with a pained smile on her face before two children, one Mari recognized as Kiriko's little friend Kagari and the other being a new face, came up to her and Rie. The two of them had their gaze set only on Rie's symphonica, but Mari noticed something in the nameless child's hands that piqued her interest. The little girl held on to a plush toy of a cat that was very well made and wore an intricate pink and red collar with a pale gold bell.

"Will you teach us how to play the symphonica?" Kagari asked Rie excitedly, with the girl beside her nodding vigorously in agreement.

"Sure! It might be a bit frustrating though, so you guys will need to have a lot of patience. Do you think you'll be able to manage that?" Rie asked the two, who nodded in response.

Mari then awkwardly interjected, her attention solely on the child's plush cat as she said," Your toy is very cute, is it ok if I take a closer look at it?"

The child nodded and held it out to Mari who inspected it carefully in her hands. Rie took notice of how closely Mari was looking at the plush and joined her in looking at it.

"What's so special about it?" Rie asked as she leaned towards Mari to get a better look at the plush.

"No doubt about it, this plush was made by that person. The mystery toy-maker..." Mari said as she touched the bell on the cat's collar," I haven't seen plush toys made from them in a couple of years, so I thought they quit, guess I was wrong though."

Mari then turned to Rie to further explain as she held out the plush for Rie to hold.

"For years, there's been a person who makes toys for the children in the hospital to play with, all of them made super-well but it's obvious that each plush is a one of a kind. The toymaker's trademark is a collar that has just as much detail as the plush along with..."

Mari flicked the bell of the plush, but no sound could be heard.

"...A bell without a ball inside. Probably to make sure the toy wouldn't be hard for a child to sleep with. Anyways, the kids always love them, but nobody knows who makes these toys, they just show up and nobody asks any questions about where they came from.

"Except you." Rie pointed out as she gave the plush back to the child," It looks like you've been curious about this toymaker's identity for a while."

Mari's face flushed red and she then stammered out," Well, it's a really nice thing of that person to do, and I just want to thank them properly for all their hard work over the past few years."

Rie nodded in understanding and Mari started to think more about the mysterious toymaker.

 _"The thought of it never occurred to me, but with everything that's been going on around me lately, it wouldn't be surprising if the toymaker was from the Kingdom."_ Mari thought to herself," _Normally, it wouldn't really matter to me if they were. Well, if they were from the kingdom I'd probably just wanna know what life in the Kingdom was like since my mom won't tell me that much but right now...maybe it's about time I learn who this toymaker is. For the sake of the team and our mission."_

Mari then thought about the last meeting held amongst the Toychest Pretty Cure, where the team learned that Rani and Nova had yet to figure out all the components inside the corrupted shards that Asperity was using. The two of them had apparently been reaching dead-ends with their limited knowledge, and going back to the kingdom didn't seem like something they were keen on doing. Chances are, going back to the kingdom would've been dangerous, so they were really only left to rely on their own knowledge. Plus, they were having issues making contact with the kingdom and likely weren't ready to venture back into the kingdom after their last visit. They fairies had proven themselves to be smarter than expected quite a few times, but it couldn't be helped if they had no idea of what elements the shards were compiled of.

 _"It would be such a long shot, but...it's worth a try."_ Mari thought to herself as she watched the child play with the toy _," Time is of the essence and if there's a chance that this person knows the elements in the kingdom well enough, we can find a way to end things peacefully."_

Mari then stepped out of the room to text her fellow Pretty Cure about the toymaker, not leaving out a single detail so they'd better understand the significance of this search for the toymaker. Once Mari hit send, she took matters into her own hands and got a head start on the search, quietly slipping out of the hospital room to see if any of the nurses had any leads.

About twenty minutes later, Mari was in front of the reception desk at the hospital with three nurses gathered behind the desk. Mari asked the seated nurse about whether or not she knew where the mysterious toys came from, but she didn't even know of their existence until now. Mari wasn't all that surprised, though hearing that the nurse hadn't heard of these toys until now was a bit disheartening. Surely, the nurse hadn't been at this location for long, the other nurses had to know. Mari did find it a tad jarring though, since sitting behind the desk on a shelf of files was a red and white reindeer plush with a collar on it, proof that it was made by the mysterious toymaker. Thankfully, the pair of nurses that came to the desk moments later were aware of the mysterious plushes, but again, nobody knew where they came from.

"I think the tradition of us accepting the box of toys happened way back in the day, before any of us started." One of the nurses said as she retrieved a set of photocopies from the printer behind the desk," I don't think any of us nurses ever met the toymaker, but we've always accepted the boxes."

"Isn't that a bit thoughtless of us to do though?" The seated nurse asked with a frown.

The other nurse then shook his head and said," Nurse Aya allowed us to accept the boxes. She said the first time they appeared, a letter was taped to it speaking of the reason why the toymaker was giving away all these toys. I'm certain Nurse Aya had met the toymaker at least once or twice, but she's retired now."

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind one visitor though, or even a call?" Mari suggested as she leaned against the desk.

"She moved to Uragizawa a few years back, but I think her daughter Rina's still in town. Maybe we can try setting up a time for you to speak with her?" One of the nurses offered with Mari nodding vigorously in response.

"Aya's daughter is a nurse too, she's worked here on occasion but her usual location is on the other side of town." The male nurse said as he pointed on the directory on the computer to the seated nurse before looking up to Mari saying," It should be easy to at least get in contact with her."

"Thank you so much!" Mari exclaimed as the nurses looked for Nurse Rina's daughter in the directory.

Nurse Rina's number was found eventually, but apparently she was busy, not having much time today to allow even a few minutes with Mari to speak, but Mari was insistent on talking to her.

"Well, Rina said she had a little bit of time between when she drops off her kids at the daycare and from when she has work tomorrow. Do you think you'll be able to meet her some time in the morning?" The male nurse asked Mari, who nodded in response. She hadn't even been thinking about whether or not the other girls could make it, but lucky for them, tomorrow was an extra day-off from school. This was too important for her to even consider if she had prior obligations.

The male nurse told Rina that Mari would be willing to meet her tomorrow and again, Mari thanked the trio of nurses and returned to the room where the rest of the fundraisers were.

The next day, the Pretty Cure team, plus the fairies, were all gathered at a daycare in a part of town none of them were familiar with. Even Kiriko, who had explored a good amount of the city from doll-hunting back in her day had never been here. It was definitely a quieter part of town, since it was near the outskirts and didn't really have many well-known establishments of its own here, mostly a bunch of chain restaurants and such populated the streets here.

The four of them stood outside of the daycare waiting for Nurse Rina to arrive. It was a bit colder than usual today, so their patience was quickly wearing thin as they kept an eye out for Rina. The daycare attendant offered to let them wait inside but none of them (except Mari) wanted to, finding it too awkward to vacate a daycare full of kids they didn't know.

"This place is boring." Asuna stated as she kicked a rock near her feet," Do you have any idea how long it's gonna take for her to come?"

Mari shook her head and said," She only told her to meet her this morning. We probably won't have a lot of time to talk to her, so we need to get all the important details in without mentioning the kingdom."

"That shouldn't be too hard." Kiriko declared, leaning against the door to the daycare," If we word it properly, we can make it look like we're simply curious about the toymaker's identity."

"But...to come all this way to see her, are you sure that doesn't seem suspicious?" Sophie pointed out.

"I thought about that, so..." Mari began as she took something out from her bag,"... I'm going to tell her I received a toy from the toymaker years ago and I wanted to thank them for it."

Mari held the red and white reindeer from the nurse's office in her hands and explained to the girls how she was able to borrow from the nurses to jog Rina's memory in the case she forgot about the toymaker.

Just then, a dark red car pulled up and out came a woman who appeared to be in her mid-thirties with fair skin and short black hair. The back door swung open and two kids, a girl and a boy who looked just like her, ran out of the car to the daycare. The woman then saw the girls and waved to them as she walked over to the daycare behind her kids. Mari stood in front of the group and waved to her stiffly, hoping that this was Rina.

"You're Mari, right?" The woman asked as she got closer," It's nice to meet you, I'm Rina."

Mari drew out a sigh in relief and smiled to Rina saying," I'm really glad I got to see you this morning, I promise I'll make this quick."

Rina nodded and led the girls into the daycare. The four of them exchanged looks of questions but ended up following after Rina. Inside the daycare, kids could be seen running around, playing in groups and doing other things like colouring or playing dress-up. The kids were also quite loud, but the group wasn't surprised considering how many of them were in the daycare.

Asuna pressed her ears shut, muttering to Kiriko," Don't they have too much energy for a Monday morning?"

"Well they're kids. It's not like they spent their weekend partying and trying to recover from a lousy hangover." Kiriko pointed out to her plainly, with Asuna's face flushing red in response," I'm sure there was a time you were just like them anyways."

Sophie noticed Mari's eyes were all over the place, looking at each and every corner in disbelief. Sophie then tapped Mari lightly on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Is everything ok?" Sophie asked her quietly.

"This place feels familiar, but...something feels off." Mari stated as she looked around the daycare, but then her train of thought came crashing as she saw a kid running around with a plush bee with a familiar collar around its neck.

"Look, that kid's got a plush from the toymaker!" Mari whispered to Sophie as she grabbed hold of her arm before another kid ran past them with a collared plush," And that one too!"

"It seems this place also received a visit from the toymaker..." Kiriko remarked as the group found a box of plush toys marked as "the toys from Miss R" .

The girls gathered around the box, inspecting the toys inside of it to make sure they were just like the ones from the hospital. Mari inspected them thoroughly, while the others just held them gingerly, unsure of how to tell whether or not the plushes were made by the toymaker. After a few moments, Mari looked at her teammates and nodded.

"So, the toymaker goes by Miss R." Mari said as she held up a pair of plushes in her hands.

Rina then walked towards the group, chuckling awkwardly," So I see you've found the box. The toymaker stopped by this place once, but I missed her the day she delivered all these toys. But...something tells me this isn't her first time giving toys to this daycare."

Rina then knelt next to Mari, pulling out a plush that looked much older than the others in the box, and smiled as she held it in her hands.

Mari then spoke up, saying," The toymaker, though secretive, is a kind person making these toys for the kids. I wish I knew her personally. If we're lucky, she'll make the time to see us."

Rina nodded slowly in response, before she handed the plush to Mari. It was a white, pink and blue plush dog that may've looked like it was just washed, but judging from the piling of its fabric and the soft grey colour it's presumably original white body had, it had been living in the daycare for many years now.

"I'm guessing there were kids who took some of the original plushies home with them huh?" Mari asked with a chuckle as she held the plush tight," The plushes are quite nice, so I can't blame them. I'm glad that the toymaker was willing to make so many of these plushes. Toys can be like a child's best friend, the keeper of all their secrets and a lifetime companion."

Domino was sitting on a bench in an empty park near the daycare, his thoughts scattered as he watched clouds overcast the sun above his head. Their goal at Asperity was as good as complete, but for whatever reason, he didn't expect to be feeling the way that he did. A mixture of unsatisfaction and guilt left him wondering if this was what he truly wanted all along but he wasn't sure if he was ready to know the answer. Most likely because he was simply avoiding it. Domino slowly found himself spending more and more time away from Asperity, something he originally chided Bounce for doing but now understanding how relaxing to take a short leave. If only it wasn't just a short leave.

"Perhaps if I get to work, I can take my mind off things." Domino said to himself as he removed a blueprint roll from his inner pocket and looked at it carefully, though there wasn't much to look at. A few loose sketches were placed in the bottom left corner along with some vague notes, nothing substantial to put into use for an actual plan. As of lately, all of his blueprints had been looking like this, devoid of any innovation or devotion. Domino took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment before he crumpled up the blueprint and tossed it to the side, standing up as he said,

"Well, if Bounce and Rubix can strike heedlessly without a plan, who's to say that I can't?"

The girls were just about ready to take their leave from the daycare after Rina and Mari exchanged numbers, both of them in hopes that Rina's mother would hear back from the toymaker soon when suddenly, a shroud of black smoke emerged from inside of the daycare.

Rina was more than alarmed, running straight towards the daycare, heedless of the danger that may have come to her if she entered as she said," There must be some kind of fire inside!"

"But...this doesn't smell like regular smoke..." Sophie pointed out quietly while Rina tried to pull open the door to no avail.

Rina seemed to caught up in trying to open the door to notice Domino standing on top of the daycare building, glowering towards the group with a collection of black shards in hand.

"Miss Rina, get back!" Kiriko shouted to her, but Rina didn't listen. One she was finally able to open the door, all the smoke from outside poured out into the front yard. It was awfully dense and the girls all standing next to each could barely see anything around them.

Domino then shouted from on top of the building," Ah look, a strong Patchwork Heart to lead my brand-new army of Defectives, or...perhaps I should call them Defectlings. "

Suddenly, the door to the daycare bursted open and out came a group of Defectives that weren't as big as the regular sized ones the Cures were used to. The Defectives were all clearly made the plushes that the toymaker gave to the daycare and the sight of it made Mari's blood boil.

The rest of the team looked disgusted to see these plushes made with love to be used in such a heinous way but the only person to voice their thoughts was none other than Mari.

" I seriously wish I could understand what goes on in your head, what you need to tell yourself to justify your actions, because I can't seem to understand why you continue to do this. We shouldn't have to be the ones telling you you're doing the wrong thing, not after all this time." Mari said as she held her PlayPact, with her teammates following suite.

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" The four of them shouted in unison.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"

"When evil is near, playtime is here! Together we are..." The girls said in unison," Toychest Pretty Cure!"

The four of them were able to emerge from the smoke, but they were soon found by the team of Defectlings that ran out of the daycare.

Domino leapt down from the building and stood in front of Rina, who was still conscious inside the smoke. Rina was far from pleased, narrowing her eyes at Domino as she coughed from the smoke filling her lungs.

"I don't know who, or what, you are but I can tell you for certain that Mari was right. No matter your matter, these children haven't done anything to deserve." Rina said between coughs,"These actions will catch up to you."

"That's where you're wrong." Domino said with a deep breath as he pressed a set of sequences on his control panel," I'm only doing what my family needs me to do. What happens to anyone else isn't any of my business."

"Your family? If your family is so important to you, shouldn't you be the one to advise them that they're doing the wrong thing?" Rina said to him as she covered her mouth and nose to keep the smoke out," Do you really think your family has anything to gain from this?"

Domino kept silent and only launched out a black shard from the opening in his palm, watching Rina writhe in pain before she fell to the ground unconscious.

Domino then retrieved the red and white reindeer plush he found inside the daycare and merged Rina's corrupted Patchwork heart with it.

"Do your worst, Defective!" Domino called out.

The reindeer plush turned into a full-size Defective and emerged from out of the smoke in search of the Pretty Cure.

The Cures were easily outnumbered by the mass of Defectlings around them, all of them glowering towards the four Cures as they formed around the team. The Cures stood backs against each others as they studied the group of Defectlings in front of them.

Teddy was the first to speak up, pointing out," Well, there's a lot of them so chances are, they only have strength in numbers!"

"That may be so, but with so many of them, I could only imagine that about four of them would equal the strength of one regular sized Defective." Dolly stated plainly as she kept her gaze away from the Defectlings' glare," If we were to have one of us take on four of them, it could work but that bigger Defective will give us a hard time, especially if it happens to have control over the Defectlings."

"Maybe one of us could handle the Defective while the others chip away at the Defectlings?" Bubbly suggested, with Teddy shaking her head in response.

"That means the rest of us will need to do the fighting against like six or seven Defectlings, it'll be too much." Teddy pointed out to her.

Fantasy stayed silent, looking at her team and then the Defectlings in deep thought.

 _"I'm sure some kind of illusion would be able to work on them, but the question is...what kind?"_ Fantasy thought to herself.

Teddy then broke Fantasy's train of thought, rushing straight into battle as she hollered," If we can't think of anything better, then we'll just have to have a full-on showdown!"

"Are you an idiot? You literally just said we shouldn't fight so many of them by ourselves!" Dolly yell-whispered, certain that Teddy wasn't going to pay attention to her regardless as she dashed towards her.

Teddy jumped up as high as she could and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Embers of Hell!"

A giant set of flames created from Teddy's palms and she shot them down to the ground where the Defectlings all stood.

"That's definitely not her attack's name." Bubbly pointed out flatly as she ran alongside Dolly," Do you suppose she forgot it?"

The flames were much larger than usual and once Teddy got back on the ground, she admired the array of flames she had the pleasure of making.

"No, it was probably to sound cool for once." Dolly explained in a deadpan tone as she watched the Defectlings run away from the flames in pure fear.

The Defectlings were much more scared of the fire than any of the Cures expected, going as far as pushing other Defectlings out of the way to dodge the fire. But, these actions weren't taken lightly by the pushed Defectives and soon enough, some of the Defectlings actually started engaging in battle with each other. What started out as a little bit of pushing evolved into full-on fights against each other and the Cures were at a loss of words as they watched the Defectlings fight.

"Wow, it's like they're doing all the work for us." Bubbly remarked before a pair of Defectlings came behind the team, only to fight with other.

The Defectlings had been so angered by each other that they completely forgot about their issue at hand, leaving the Cures to really do nothing but sit and watch.

"Remember, they're much stronger as a unit so let's make use of this opportunity!" Dolly shouted as she took the lead and jumped up to deliver a set of kicks into the Defectling before her. The Cures nodded in agreement and each tried to take on a Defectling, though none of them appeared to be interested in a fight with them.

"Are you kidding? This is absolutely ridiculous!" Domino shouted in disbelief as his gaze turned to the reindeer Defective," Go set them straight right this instant!"

The reindeer nodded and darted towards the group of Defectlings. Once it got close enough to the little Defectling group, it let out a loud cry that forced the Cures to press their ears shut in fear of going deaf.

"What is it doing?!" Bubbly shouted to the team as they looked over to the group of Defectlings.

The Defectlings weren't recoiling back from the loud noise and instead were as still as a statue, all of them with a look so fearful in their eye that they appeared unresponsive. Once the reindeer Defective ended their cry, the Defectlings returned to the matter at hand, though something appeared to be off with them.

The Defectlings were moving more efficiently as a team and didn't act as immature as before, it was as if they experienced a complete reprogramming from the Defective's cry.

"Damn it, just when we got the upper hand!" Teddy griped as she dodged a Defectling trying to lunge for her.

Fantasy nodded upon hearing Teddy's comment, but then an idea struck her moments later. She looked around at the set of Defectlings surrounding them and narrowly dodged getting hit by a Defectling before she jumped up high on a nearby lamppost and balled her fists.

She then shouted out," Pretty Cure, Play-!"

The reindeer Defective went and knocked Fantasy off of the lamppost, launching her into a set of trees far from their battleground.

"Now we're down one Cure? Things can't get any worse huh?" Teddy said as she ducked and led two of the Defectlings to bash heads with each other.

"Shouldn't we go see if Fantasy's ok?" Bubbly asked as she shot a stream of bubbles towards the trio of Defectlings before her.

Dolly barely dodged a punch from the Defectling she was fighting against as she said," If you wanna try getting through all these Defectlings to check on Fantasy, be my guest!"

Bubbly narrowed her eyes at Dolly, unimpressed by the sarcastic undertone lying in her statement as she continued to fight the Defectlings.

Fantasy was located by a set of shrubs in front of the trees she slammed into, stretching out her arms carefully before inspecting them for any bruises. To her surprise, there was no sign that she had just been slammed into a set of trees and hit by a ten-foot tall reindeer-like Defective.

"Amazing...maybe the real monster here is me." Fantasy mused with a weak chuckled as she opened and closed her fist," I always had a feeling that my defense would be stronger than the others, but this is unreal. Agh, focus Cure Fantasy! We have other things to tend to!"

"Watching those Defectlings fight one another after Teddy's attack gave me a good idea, but with this many opponents, I need full concentration!" Fantasy said to herself as she pressed her eyes shut and held her hands out," I won't let these innocent people suffer any longer!"

Once Fantasy cleared her mind and thought of nothing but the Defectlings a few feet away, her plan was set into motion. Her first step was to get into their head, to see what they were seeing and "modify" what was in their line of sight.

"You won't be fighting with my team any longer. From here on out, you'll go forth to battle each other!" Fantasy declared, raising her voice slightly.

Each of the Defectlings saw the trio of Cures ganging up on them, so they fought back. But, it wasn't actually the Cures they were fighting. Once again, the Defectlings were fighting each other, but this time, they saw the Pretty Cure instead of the other Defectlings.

Bubbly was the first to notice that the Defectlings were beginning to fight each other again and looked at them in question before coming to the realization of what happened.

"Did something happened between the Defectlings again? There's too many of them to keep track of what's going on." Dolly said as she took a step away from the Defectling she had been fighting who was now fighting another Defectling.

The fighting among the Defectlings was much more intense than before and the Cures returned to watching from the sidelines, having a faint idea of what could've caused this.

"With Fantasy keeping the Defectlings occupied, now's our best chance to deal with the main Defective." Dolly stated in a low voice, with her teammates nodding in response.

The three of them ran towards the main Defective, who appeared unpleased at the sight of them and tried to make another cry to get the Defectlings attention.

"Oh no you don't!" Bubbly shouted as she shot a set of water tendrils towards the Defective, pushing it back a few feet.

The Defective was now too upset to even pay attention to its Defectling subordinates and began to fight the trio of Cures. Surprising no one, the main Defective was much stronger than the Defectlings and managed to fight against them with ease despite being outnumbered. But since the Defective was so caught up in the battle, it failed to notice the Defectlings wearing each other down.

Fantasy was rubbing her temples, eyes pressed shut as she continued to keep up the illusion she created in the Defectlings' minds.

"Keep going...just a bit more please..." Fantasy said, her breathing getting quicker without her realizing it. This had likely been the longest Fantasy had kept an illusion going, and never had she felt herself under so much stress both physically and mentally during battle. She had gotten so used to relying on illusions that lasted a couple of seconds that it was near unthinkable to create one that would last as long as this. Fantasy felt hopeless as she continued her illusion, desperately reassuring herself that it wouldn't take much longer for the Defectlings to tire themselves out. Just when she felt like she had control of the situation again, she felt a sharp pain in her head and impulsively opened her eyes, breaking the illusion. Something appeared in her mind, something very ominous and overwhelming but she wasn't quite sure what it was. All she saw was a bright flash of violet lights that came from seemingly nowhere. Fantasy felt her heart sink for a moment, disappointed that she couldn't keep her illusion together but instead of feeling sorry for herself, she ran back to the field to help the others.

The Defectlings had exerted most, if not all of their energy fighting each other, so at this point they weren't any match for the Cures. But the team was still fighting against the reindeer Defective who didn't even seem the slightest bit depleted of its strengths.

Teddy leapt in front of the Defective and shouted, "Pretty Cure, Flaming- agh!"

The Defective was too quick and didn't even give Teddy a chance to execute her attack, knocking her off balance. Teddy lost her footing and fell on the ground, glaring at the Defective while Dolly took a turn in fighting against the Defective.

Fantasy rushed towards Teddy and helped her to her feet, while Teddy grumbled," This'll never work! That Defective doesn't want to listen to any of us! Not even Dolly!"

Fantasy said nothing in response and only stared down the Defective, trying to think of how she could be of any help. If Dolly couldn't get through to it, did they stand a chance? Fantasy took a deep breath and looked at her hands for a moment.

 _"Using an illusion on this Defective might be mean, I don't want to try messing with them like that. Especially since the last few Defectives have been somewhat emotional. But, if I don't do something to help out, things will only get worse!"_ Fantasy thought to herself as she darted up to the Defective.

"Bubbly, put up a barrier around me and the Defective!" Fantasy requested as she ran past Bubbly.

"Um, ok!" Bubbly responded and did just as ordered as soon as Fantasy got close enough to the Defective.

The Defective looked at the barrier and immediately tried to break through it, rather than fight against Cure Fantasy.

"Really? You'd rather bust out to fight the other Cures than fight me?" Fantasy asked sarcastically," That's fine, I'm not much of a fighter anyways."

Fantasy then joined her hands and closed her eyes for a brief moment and declared," I won't be fighting you, instead I'll be showing you how this isn't the real you."

Fantasy then opened one eye, revealing her sclera to be black and her iris pink as she met the gaze of the Defective.

Once the Defective locked eyes with Fantasy, it no longer saw her but the group of kids from before that were inside the daycare, now crying as they cast away the plushes from the toymaker.

"Wait no, you're suppose to cherish those toys, not throw them around like that!" The Defective shouted as it reached its arm out, though it was aware they wouldn't be able to reach them," How could I let this happen?"

"Its ok, it wasn't your fault." Fantasy reassured in a gentle voice as she came close to the Defective," However you're in control of what happens next. You could either continue to let these kids hate these toys or set things right and help us bring them back to normal. I hope you'd be willing to trust me and my team."

The Defective looked at the defeated group of Defectlings and nodded in agreement. Fantasy smiled and gave her teammates a thumbs-up to purify the Defective.

The rest of the team conjured up their scepters and pushed their toy toppers into their respective scepters, leading them to transform into their upgraded forms.

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!" The four of them called out.

They held out their scepters up high and shouted in unison," Pretty Cure, Playtime Paradise!"

The Defective and Defectlings were met with a swarm of bright shimmering lights and reverted to their original forms.

"Fantasy that was so cool! You're like the team's hidden ace!" Bubbly exclaimed as she threw her arms around Fantasy. Fantasy smiled, though her thoughts were still fixated on the violet lights she saw before her illusion.

 _"Was that Rubix? Or...maybe even Lilith. It was a strange sense of magic, but it almost felt as if it belonged to one of the girls, why is that?"_ Fantasy thought to herself before the Cures reversed their transformations.

Mari received a text hours earlier, just before the group left the daycare, from Rina who claimed she just got in contact with the toymaker. Mari was beyond excited, finally all her hard work and searching was about to pay off.

She arrived at the quiet coffee-shop Rina told them to meet at in a somewhat unfamiliar part of town. Mari looked around expectantly and saw Rina sitting at a booth by herself. Mari wore a somewhat disappointed look on her face and took a seat in front of Rina, who giggled at the sight of an unpleased Mari.

"I'm guessing the toymaker hasn't arrived yet?" Mari asked with an awkward chuckle.

"Mari, why did you want to meet the toymaker so badly?" Rina asked as she took a long sip from the cup in her hands," Did you think that she was special, from some kind of magical kingdom, like a lost kingdom of toys?"

Mari's eyes opened up wide and she only sat there speechless, trying to remain calm as she looked awkwardly at the table.

"Nurse Aya is my mother-in-law. Years ago, I came here because a dear friend of mine left home to live on Earth. I was upset and confused. I didn't understand how she could fall in love with such a boring place, a place nothing like home. I thought she was brainwashed. But...my friend Skylar had never been happier. I could see it in her face, but I hadn't approached her once, not since I cut her off in the kingdom. A lot of people treated her like an outcast once she took her leave and I wasn't any exception. I wanted to bring Skylar back but...I couldn't take her away from this human world she had grown to love. Earth meant everything to her, and so did her family. And before I knew it, I found myself growing fond of earth too." Rina explained.

"Despite the lack of magic, the worlds share some similarities. It's comforting, but...because of the fact I get reminded of home so often, I've grown worried that I won't get a chance to go back one last time." Rina confessed as she pushed her cup away," For years I've stayed away from the kingdom, I was too embarrassed to show my face since I was one of the people who hated Skylar's decision the most. I want to make things right, so I made the plush toys for her charity, but I didn't want her knowing. But now, I've found myself making more of them, in fear that a tradition as old as time is about to die out soon."

"We're not letting that happen!" Mari blurted out, slamming her hands onto the table, startling the two of them," I mean, well...my team is doing everything we can to get the upper hand. As of right now, we need someone with a great amount of knowledge on the elements in kingdom. We were hoping that person would be you."

"Unfortunately, that isn't my expertise." Rina responded with a pitied expression," But...if I'm not mistaken, all the knights in the kingdom are required to have the table of elements in the kingdom memorized. The head knight, Knight River would probably know them best, and who better than to get in contact with him than his own niece?"

"I feel like he would be ashamed to see that I'm not as strong as he believes, but its worth a shot." Mari declared with a nod.

"No...I think he'll find you to be much stronger than expected, Mari." Rina replied, smiling to Mari.


	36. Asuna's bake sale

The kitchen of the Morino household was in complete disarray, thanks to Asuna and her late-night cravings. The fridge had been emptied with all of its contents placed on the counter as Asuna searched for something to eat. Normally, Asuna wouldn't go as far as to tearing up the kitchen for food but with only her and Nova in the house at this hour, Asuna didn't see any problem in doing so. Nova watched Asuna curiously as the redhead unloaded all sorts of things from the fridge before standing up and moving onto the cupboards without even putting back the things she found in the fridge.

Nova narrowed her eyes at her owner, saying," Are you sure you should be making such a huge mess? The fridge looked pretty packed when you first opened it, there must have been something in there to satisfy your cravings."

"Not really, most of that stuff is more suited to Tadashi's tastes, and he hasn't been home for days." Asuna responded as she removed a set of ramen cups from the cupboard," If anything, I'm doing my mom a favour right now. I could be ordering takeout instead but alas...the only child with money in their account is at our dad's place for the third night in a row."

Asuna closed the cupboard door and tried her best to carry at least half of the items she took out from the fridge to place it back in one go. She was mostly successful, though it appeared some items weren't where they were supposed to be. Asuna didn't seem to care and put the rest of the items back in the fridge. She opened up the freezer and settled on an ice cream bar, while Nova shook her head in disapproval.

Asuna paid no mind to her and went to the kitchen table to retrieve her phone to see if she had received any new messages. Asuna noticed a message from her friend Misa and immediately groaned after reading it, hanging her head backwards for a moment.

Misa was reminding her about the bake sale that Asuna said she'd helped Misa out with. The bake sale was planned to raise funds for the upcoming school fashion show and while the idea of a bake sale sounded appealing to Asuna (mainly just the thought of eating a bunch of desserts) actually taking part to help out was beginning to seem a lot less enticing.

"Ugh, bake sales are no fun if you have to make something for it." Asuna said as she bit off the chocolate coating of her ice-cream bar," It'd be easier to just hang around when they're cleaning up and getting rid of the leftovers."

"But Asuna, if you bake something, you can make some extras for yourself." Nova pointed out to Asuna, who shrugged in response and started scrolling through her phone.

"Plus...I don't actually have a lot of time this weekend to bake anything. I've got an old friend coming over for a visit." Asuna said as she put her phone down on the table," He was more of Tadashi's friend, but...it would be nice to see him again after all this time."

Asuna was staring at a message on her phone, a lengthy message detailing about how much they missed home and couldn't wait to come back for the weekend.

 _"Asuna, I hope we can hang out for a little bit during this weekend! I'd love to catch up with you, Tadashi, and Hayase, it'll be just like old times! If you have anything you think we should do this weekend, let me know, ok? - Hiraku."_ The message read.

Asuna stared at the text blankly, before a memory appeared in her mind, causing her to zone out.

 _The kids in the neighbourhood had gathered in the nearby park for a giant game of tag. It was summer vacation and all the kids in the neighbourhood were present for the game and excited to find that everybody was able to make it for today's big game. Asuna was surveying her opponents to the best of her abilities in an attempt to see who she'd oughta stay away from. She decided that the fastest runners in the game would be Tadashi, two of the older boys Yoru and Ryu, and herself. But, the three of them had something that she lacked in greatly; the ability to be stealthy. She was good at being quiet when she could get herself to a hiding spot, it was just transporting herself to the next one that'd give her trouble since she'd catch everyone's eye with her long red hair. In theory, she could've easily done a stakeout and waited until the game was over, but there wasn't any fun in that._

 _Asuna was fast and she didn't want people to forget it. She loved to show off her speed at any given opportunity and she wasn't about to pass this one up._

 _"Oh no, Ryu is it!" One of the kids shouted as they ran across the field. Ryu watched the kid run by, but didn't pay any mind to him._

 _Asuna had a feeling that Ryu wasn't interested in electing that kid as it since he wasn't much of a challenge to catch. She noticed Ryu was looking around the park in a desperate search for someone, until it dawned on her who he was looking for._

 _"I'm coming for you Asuna!" Ryu shouted as he ran in the opposite direction._

 _Asuna took a gulp and crouched down even lower on the ground, to the point that she was nearly lying flat on it. She then looked through the bushes she hid behind to see what was her best option._

 _The foursquare box, painted on the ground was the safe zone but you were only allowed to be in there for a minute and the person who was 'it' couldn't be within five steps around the safe zone. Any time longer than a minute in the safe zone and you either had to leave or quit the game. It wouldn't have been too hard to reach the box, but she'd have to run past Ryu in order to get there. He'd surely see her try to run past her and inevitably catch up._

 _"I either need to evade him, or outrun him." Asuna said to herself quietly as she narrowed her eyes at Ryu. She waited a few moments to time her mad dash to the safe zone, until Ryu's back was against her and he was too far away to reach. But, even if she was nearly at the safe zone, Ryu could probably catch up to her with ease, so she needed to pace herself and only run when Ryu was after her._

 _Asuna nodded to herself and moments later, she took off. She ran past a bunch of kids, who only saw a flash of red zoom past as Asuna ran to the safe zone. Asuna past Hayase and Hiraku, who only looked at her wide-eyed as she ran towards the safe zone._

 _"Whoa, she's like a rocket blasting off!" Hiraku remarked, making rocket sounds as he twirled around, while Hayase chuckled politely._

 _"Almost!" Asuna said to herself, before her eyes met Ryu's who was standing at the opposite end of the box," You won't catch me from there!"_

 _Just before Asuna's stepped into the box, she tripped, and all of a sudden, it hurt to stand up or even move her leg. Asuna was in tears and all the kids gathered around her to see what had happened._

 _Tadashi stepped forward and took a look at his sister's ankle and surmised that she probably sprained it while running. The game was called off and the two siblings went home, where Asuna was forced to stay in bed with her ankle wound up in a tensor bandage. She didn't have anything to do but sleep so that's what she did. After a few hours later, Asuna woke up and found sitting on the chair next to her bed was a black cat plush with a gold ribbon and a note._

 _Curiously, Asuna reached for the plush and the note, reading the note aloud._

 _"Hey there Asuna, I've been wanting to tell you this for a while now but I've been too scared to say it. I think you're really cool for being able to outrun guys like Tadashi, Ryu and Yoru. You're amazing for being one of the few to actually be able to put them in their place when they get out of line too. I also wanted to say that I like you, and being friends with you is one of the best things that's ever happened to me. Thanks for hanging out with me after all this time. Sincerly, H.M " Asuna read aloud, her face turning red as she promptly closed the note._

Asuna tilted her head back, staring vacantly at the wall before her.

 _"Does Hiraku still feel that way? Probably not...right?"_ Asuna thought to herself, her cheeks flushed _," We were just kids back then, we didn't know what we were saying. But...Hiraku was a cute kid. Hopefully he hasn't changed too much."_

The next day, Asuna decided to take advantage of the amount of time she had this morning since she awoke early through calling up the one person who she knew had to have known a thing or two about baking.

 _"You're going to help out with the school bake sale?!"_ Mari said excitedly on the other side of the phone, leading Asuna to impulsively pull the phone away from her ear.

Asuna groaned and answered," Yes, so...do you know how to cook stuff? Maybe even how to use an oven?"

 _"Meet me at the school in about an hour, I know just what we can make!"_ Mari exclaimed before she hung up. Asuna looked down at her phone, wondering if this was going to be a good idea.

About an hour later, Asuna could be seen in one of the school's cooking labs with Mari, who came prepared with a bunch of baking supplies. Rolling pans, cake mixes, frosting, cookie cutters, sprinkles, you name it, Mari brought it. Asuna failed to see all the potential treats that could've been made today and only focused on how long and how much work it would take to make all the stuff Mari was planning for today. Asuna had her hands folded on the desk, while Mari was writing down potential bake sale treats on the whiteboard. The longer Mari's list grew, the more skeptic Asuna was about today's baking adventure. Soon enough, Mari stopped writing and turned her attention back to Asuna with a smile on her face.

"I'm so glad out of all the girls, you chose me to help you out with your bake sale!" Mari beamed as she placed the cap back on the whiteboard marker," I absolutely _love_ baking but I don't get to do it very often."

Asuna shrugged and thought about the other two choices she had.

Kiriko, despite working at a cafe, was a cashier and Asuna had a feeling the workaholic probably had very, very limited baking knowledge so she wasn't going to bother her about it. Sophie was actually her next choice. Since she was the oldest of five, chances were she had to know something about cooking since the time she spent in Sophie's household, it appeared as if she often had to play the role of the third parent. But, Sophie had been busy these last couple of days and told the girls of how she wouldn't be available these next couple of weekends.

"You didn't really have much competition." Asuna stated plainly with a shrug," Anyways, so...what are we making today boss?"

"Well. as you can see, I brought a lot of different stuff for us to use so if you really wanted to, we could bake just about anything. As long as it's not something that needs refrigeration. " Mari explained to her as she walked over to the table where all the ingredients," It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake, but brownies are soooo good, then again, who could say no to chocolate chip cookies? Or even sugar cookies with royal icing on top or even..."

 _"I'm losing her."_ Asuna thought to herself, eyes narrowed at Mari who seemed to be in her own world as she talked about the desserts.

Asuna then cleared her throat to bring Mari bring back to Earth. Mari then chuckled awkwardly after realizing she had been rambling.

"Well, whatever we end up baking today, it won't be any good without the most important ingredient. You know what that is?" Mari asked, excitement creeping into her voice.

"Baking soda?" Asuna guessed.

"It's love, Asuna." Mari responded, with Asuna making a gagging sound in return," Well, let's get started!"

Rani had been studying a bath bomb, a grain of salt and a tablespoon of honey underneath the microscope in Kiriko's room. Rani had Kiriko's PlayPact at hand's reach in case she made a discovery so she could inform Knight River. Ever since Mari got in contact with him, the two of them had been exchanging information about the shards and the status of the kingdom. Rani knew as a knight, River didn't have a lot of time to spare, so she made sure to only contact him if she really needed it.

So far, Rani had been making more progress thanks to River's guidance, who suggested dipping fragments of the shard in different liquids to see its reaction in order to determine its chemical makeup.

Kiriko needed to study, but the idea of getting close to finding out what the shards were made of piqued her interests so she was hopeless in her attempts at studying today. Eventually she joined Rani at the table to see if she had made any discoveries as of yet.

"Anything good?" Kiriko asked as she watched Rani dip the shard into a jar of vanilla extract, with Rani shaking her head in response. Rani then typed up the reaction into Kiriko's laptop on a document with a table of reactions.

"Knight River was nice enough to show me a chart of elements the knights and alchemists use for reference, but so far, I've yet to identify any component aside from Everlight." Rani answered with a sigh.

Kiriko patted her on the back, saying," Don't worry, you'll figure out soon enough."

"With only one shard though, we can't really conduct all this experimental stuff continuously, otherwise we're going to run out of of the shard." Rani stated as she pushed back the jar of vanilla extract," And if that happens, we're right back to square one."

Kiriko fell quiet and then placed the shard under the microscope to get a better look at it while asking," Do you think there's a lot of components to the shard?"

"Not really, perhaps only two or three." Rani answered with Kiriko pulling her head back from the microscope in shock of Rani's response.

"Only two or three?" Kiriko repeated skeptically before she a look at the shard under the microscope.

Looking at the shard reminded Kiriko of looking at a cell with all the miniscule shapes unseen by the naked eye. It was interesting to say the least and definitely not what she was expecting. But, Rani was probably right since Kiriko could only see four different shapes in repetition, assuming that one of them was the Everlight that the fairies spoke of.

"Hmm...what if these components are made of a combination of two elements?" Kiriko suggested as she continued to look at the shard with the microscope.

"Kiriko, please don't say things like that, just the thought of such a thing is stressing me out!" Rani cried as she held onto Kiriko, who laughed in response.

"Sorry about that, but...these shards are really mysterious. We've had this piece for weeks now but we can only name one element it's made up from. If we want to beat Asperity with their own weapon, we need to get serious about finding out what this thing is made of. If we can do that and make something to counteract the shards, it'll be our hidden ace." Kiriko explained to Rani," In a situation like this, it wouldn't hurt to come prepared, right?"

Rani nodded and got back to work, feeling a bit more motivated now.

Asuna and Mari were hard at work in the kitchen lab at the school, and Mari was quite pleased to see that Asuna had been working much harder than expected, baking not only cupcakes but even brownies and chocolate cookies for the school bake sale. Mari smiled at the thought of Asuna showing up to the bake sale, hands filled with a bunch of delicious treats for her student body. It was an uncharacteristic thing of Asuna but, Mari liked the idea quite a bit. Asuna must've really wanted to be of help to the bake sale.

But, Mari failed to notice the distracted, almost vacant look in Asuna's eye as she worked away in the kitchen. She was awfully quiet today, but Mari simply assumed it was because she was focusing too hard in fear of messing up. In actuality, Asuna was thinking about her plans for tomorrow, where she planned to spend the day with her friend Hiraku.

" _I remember Hiraku being big into desserts, since his mom always complained about his sweet tooth, but the question is...what was his favourite?"_ Asuna thought to herself as she beat the batter for the brownies, _"You really can't go wrong with cupcakes, brownies, or cookies but it'd probably impress him if I were to give him his favourite. I should've texted Tadashi about this to see if he remembered instead of baking all this stuff. They were the best of friends before Hiraku moved away."_

As Asuna furiously beat the brownie batter, Mari checked the timer she brought to see if the chocolate chip cookies they made earlier were ready. Mari then looked over to Asuna and saw a somewhat uneasy look on her face as she stirred away. Was there something wrong with the batter she provided? Mari then walked over to her and inspected the batter before she checked the box and its expiration date. The batter looked perfectly fine and it wasn't past it's expiration date, so maybe Asuna's thoughts were elsewhere.

Mari then decided it was about time that the brownie batter had finished mixing, so she tapped Asuna on the shoulder and let her handle the rest of it, motioned the redhead to go take a seat, it looked like she needed a break anyways. In the meanwhile, Mari scraped off the leftover batter from the sides of the bowl and poured it into the baking pan.

Asuna sat at the table full of high chairs, thinking about all the desserts that had been made today.

" _Nova was right, I guess I am getting leftovers."_ Asuna thought to herself, but she didn't feel as satisfied as she expected to, _"It's not likely that I'll be eating them though."_

Mari then walked over to her, holding the tray of chocolate chip cookies and placing them next to the tray of cupcakes. She then took a seat opposite to Asuna and smiled to her, lacing her fingers and resting them under her chin as she said,

"I never expected you to like baking as much as you do. I can see you were really determined to bake as much as you could."

Asuna then waved a hand in dismissal responding with,"It was nothing, really. I didn't realize we did so much baking until you pointed it out."

Asuna then stared at her phone in her hands for a moment, looking at the text that Hiraku had sent her last night, the text where he told her that they could all spent Sunday afternoon together. Her eyes were glued on Hayase's name.

"Mari, what would do if you liked someone who ignores you constantly?"Asuna asked, her gaze failing to reach Mari.

"Well, I'd let them go on about their life, no questions asked."Mari answered plainly, causing Asuna to look at her in question,"They're entitled to feel however they want to. One thing I've learned about life is well, no amount of love can get your feelings returned. It's frustrating and easily not the best feeling in the world, if anything, it might just be the worst."

"But that's not fair."Asuna commented flatly, her eyes squinted at Mari.

"Life and unfair are sometimes synonymous."Mari said to her with an unreadable expression,"There are times where all you can do is just let the one you love most be happy. Even if that means making yourself unhappy in the process."

"Ok, but...what if they liked you before? Is that excusable, like a loophole of sorts? Asuna questioned, leading Mari to look at her with a somewhat unimpressed look on her face.

"Exactly what do you mean?"Mari asked.

Asuna opened her mouth to explain, but then her phone started ringing and Asuna groaned upon seeing the Caller ID.

Asuna was hesitant, but she answered the call with,"I'm busy, what do you want?"

" _Geez, well hello to you too."_ Tadashi responded in an irritated tone,"Hiraku's at our place, can you come over?"

"Wait right now? Wasn't he supposed to hang out with friends from his elementary school?"Asuna reminded him.

" _Nah, they bailed. If you're free, just head home so we can all hang out."_ Tadashi replied, _"I'll see you later."_

Asuna's call was ended and she glared at her phone screen for a few moments, holding back on a sigh.

Mari interrupted her thoughts, asking her,"Is it something urgent?"

Mari then stood up and started to cut up the brownies from the pan into squares as she said,"You were planning to share these with someone, right? I can clean this stuff up, you go see them and I'll just give you the rest of the desserts on Monday."

Quickly, Mari then reached for the small jar of peanut butter she brought today and spread a layer of it on a set of brownies she cut out for Asuna, then she placed a few chocolate chips on top. Mari put them away into a container and held it out to Asuna.

"I promise I won't eat any of them. You go have fun, alright?" Mari stated as Asuna cautiously took the container from Mari's hands.

Asuna looked at the brownies in the container before looking towards Mari and offering her a small smile in response.

"Ok, thanks a lot. I appreciate it."Asuna said before collecting her things to leave.

Mari smiled in response and Asuna took off in a few minutes.

Meanwhile, at the Morino residence, Tadashi and Hayase were sitting in the living room playing video games with a boy that had bleached blond hair and pink streaks in it. The boys were fully immersed in their game, it had taken them awhile to properly get accustomed to each other's company again, especially since they hadn't seen Hiraku in nearly nine years.

Even though the three of them seemed to be focused only on the game, Tadashi and Hayase were still thinking about how much had changed since Hiraku left.

Hayase thought back to how one by one, the kids in their neighbourhood moved away, most of them never to be heard from again. The two of them considered themselves lucky that they were able to keep in touch with Hiraku after all this time. Hayase then thought about how Hiraku didn't really speak much about his personal life and rather only told them of what life in his new city was like and what he planned to study once he graduated next year.

All Tadashi could think about was how Hiraku failed to mention the hair bleaching and streaks, since he thought they looked really neat and complimented his outfit.

"Yes! I win again!"Hiraku cheered as he jumped up from his seat,"That was too easy~! Clearly no challenge for yours truly."

"Not surprising, neither of us have played this game in months."Hayase commented with a chuckle while Tadashi groaned as he looked through his collection for other games to play. Hayase wasn't surprised to see Tadashi's competitive side creep out from the slightest provocation and simply went to the kitchen to see if Tadashi had any snacks for them.

Hayase sighed at the sight of the snack selection in the Morino household. Most, if not of Tadashi's snacks were habanero chips, his absolute favourite but Hayase's least favourite type of chips.

" _When was the last time this house was without habanero chips?"_ Hayase wondered as looked at the boxes of mini-bags stacked up in the corner. Hayase turned around, about to head back into the living room empty-handed when he noticed the two of his friends were in the middle of a conversation, probably one they didn't want him listening in on since their voices were so soft.

"So, what do you say? Do you want in?"Hiraku asked, in a voice so quiet, Hayase wouldn't have been able to hear if he was standing right behind the kitchen pathway.

"I...as of right now, I don't think I'd be able to agree to that. Sorry, man."Tadashi responded, his tone apologetic yet there was a faint tense sound to it.

Hiraku nodded his head, as an awkward silence began to fill the room before Hiraku stood up to declare,

"Well, it appears you two aren't any match for me. Will Asuna be here soon?" Hiraku asked, turning towards the kitchen only to find Hayase trying to act inconspicuous as he thoughtfully looked at the box of chips in the corner.

Bounce was sitting inside a room with Lilith and Rubix, feeling a bit uneasy in the presence of both of them. If Bounce was simply just sitting here with Lilith, things would've been different, but with Rubix around, Bounce only felt powerless in her presence. Everytime she was near Rubix as of lately, these thoughts of how she was inferior to Rubix kept running through her mind, especially with all the progress Rubix was able to make these last couple of weeks. And also since she hadn't been here as long as the rest of the team.

"Today, I'll explain our final plan to you two." Lilith declared as she laid of a rolled up sheet of paper on the table in front of them," I've already went through this with Domino and did the adjustments he recommended. I wouldn't trust anyone else to modify this plan anyways."

Bounce crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, wondering what Domino was up to. She glanced over to the doorway and narrowed her eyes at it, finding a thin lining of dark magic made to keep her and Rubix inside the room for the remainder of this meeting. Once their meeting was up, Rubix would be free to go, but Bounce would still be confined to the hideouts of Asperity. At least until the day of their final battle was to happen.

 _"I don't understand...Domino and Rubix have screwed up just as much as I have, so why am I the one who needs to be under house-arrest?"_ Bounce thought to herself, though she already had a faint idea as to why _," I haven't done anything commendable to be out on the field again. I need something good, not just to break out of here, but to show them I'm not as useless as they think."_

Rubix looked over to Bounce just to make sure that she was paying attention. Bounce smiled to her in response, only to roll her eyes the second Rubix looked away.

Meanwhile, Domino was out in the human world, looking around an empty park, literally not leaving any stone unturned as he searched through the park. After a few more moments of searching, Domino stopped and took a seat underneath a nearby tree. He looked up to the sky and declared aloud,

"Well, no sign of the Mage's missing Patchwork Heart here. Why is Lilith so certain about its existence after all these centuries? It would be pure luck to find it so easily, I mean...it was surprising enough we were able to get our hands on the King's Patchwork Heart."

Domino then sighed, staring at the empty park in front of him, his thoughts a mess as he thought more and more about how close Asperity was to victory. The thought of it alone may have sounded nice, but something was missing that made the idea of victory actually enjoyable.

Domino then held out his hand and then placed it on his glass dome protecting his domino head. He was reminded of his pre-modified self, and his brother whose face so closely resembled his. Even if Domino missed Jack, he was well-aware that it was for the best, that his brother wouldn't have been happy to stay here at Asperity, even if he was with his family.

 _"These actions will catch up to you."_

Domino shook his head, remembering the last battle he had with the Pretty Cure and the almost predictable failure it resulted in.

Asperity wasn't the same, but all these changes, the modifications, the new additions, it was supposed to happen. It was what Lilith wanted all along. Though none of the three were ready for them, nor did they want them. All they wanted was to stay together, like always.

"What a fool, these actions have already caught up to me." Domino scoffed as he leaned back against the tree.

The image of Jack, smiling that earnest smile uncharacteristic for him when Domino last saw him flashed through his mind. It was a sight that warmed his heart, even if Domino couldn't comprehend the feelings Jack had when he decided to stay in the human world.

Even if Domino wanted to escape, to simply take his leave from Asperity, the human world wasn't going to cut it for him. It may have been charming with all the technological advancements, but...something was amiss.

A memory then ran through Domino's mind, and he laughed. It was a memory that would've left a smile on his face as his mind traveled back all those years, a memory long past and never to be relived again.

 _Three children were seen in a clearing in the forest gathered around a single of them, the boys, were play fighting with toy swords, while the last child, the only girl amongst them, was sitting up in the tree watching them._

 _The taller boy was knocked off his feet by his opponent, who only stood gallantly over the one who usually towered over him._

 _"See Dominique? Your height doesn't mean a thing in a game like this!" He shouted gallantly._

 _Dominique averted his gaze from his opponent, only looking at the toy-sword with a frustrated look on his face. Just then, someone cleared their throat and they spotted a boy with dark brown hair looking at the group curiously._

 _"Would any of you know where The Watchman's Berry Garden is?" The dark-haired boy asked._

 _Dominique opened up his eyes wide with disbelief, all of a sudden feeling unfit to be standing here simply playing around. Someone of his status couldn't even breathe the same air as him, so what was this boy doing here? The younger boy didn't seem to care though, he probably didn't even recognize him as a member of the royal family and only pointed in the direction of where the dark-haired boy asked. The dark-haired boy thanked him and went on ahead, but Dominique noticed his sister paying close attention to him, remaining silent._

"If I had said something to her back then, would things have been different?" Domino asked aloud, before the sound of a girl crying sounded through the park. He then turned his attention to a little girl, in the corner of the park, crying because her plush giraffe's leg had broken off.

"How am I gonna fix you?" The little girl said between sobs.

Domino was just about to make use of the opportunity laid out in front of him but then, he shook his head and only said,

"This time, I'd much prefer to reminisce."

Asuna was almost at her house when she got a call from a number she didn't recognize, though the area code looked familiar. She picked up the call and waited expectantly to see who was calling her while continuing her walk home.

 _"Hey Asuna, how much longer do you have? I'm at your house right now with Tadashi and Hayase.."_ The person on the other end asked her. Asuna stopped dead in her tracks upon hearing that voice, unmistakable, even if it hadn't been heard in ages. Asuna felt her heart begin to race and sputtered out,

"I'll be there super soon, just give me like a few minutes, ok? I'll see you then."

She immediately hung up and stood leaning against a nearby fence for a few moments to organize her thoughts.

"Why am I acting like this? Hiraku's just a childhood friend." Asuna said to herself as she looked towards the path she was supposed to go," So much time has past since then. A lot has to have changed after all these years."

Asuna stared at her phone screen for a few moments, as her thoughts wandered to a conversation that she and Tadashi had a couple of weeks back.

" _You're gonna move out?!" Asuna shouted, slamming her hands onto her bed, with Tadashi shushing her in response._

" _Keep it down, I haven't told mom as of yet. Plus, I'm just moving into dad's house, that's all." Tadashi explained," It's closer to my university and well, I'm there pretty often anyways, so it only makes sense."_

 _Asuna fell silent, with an unreadable look on her face as she stared at Tadashi. Her heart felt like it was sinking, and somehow, this definitely wasn't the reaction she was expecting from herself. She knew this day would come, but she always thought she was going to be rejoicing upon hearing these words._

 _Tadashi knelt to face her at eye level saying," You should've seen it coming. Nothing's supposed to stay as is, you gotta start reminding yourself that."_

" _But...there wasn't anything wrong with how things always were."_ Asuna thought to herself before she continued her walk home.

Rubix was standing on top of one of the tallest buildings in town, looking over a busy street as she tried to concentrate. She felt herself tense and only sighed as she fought against her impulses. All this searching was migraine-inducing but she was the only one met with success in finding one of the two Patchwork Hearts they needed, so Lilith didn't give her any other choice but to continue their search.

Rubix was growing to hate all this searching, because the longer she concentrated, the less in tune she was with her surroundings, leaving her in a place where she could access memories of someone within her, deep in her subconscious. The memories were often fragmented, like they were from a dream, but she couldn't make out a single face or recognize any voices. Many of them were muffled and often spoke nonsense. But, there was one voice that appeared once in a while that spoke clearly and with meaning in their words, but hearing that voice gave Rubix the sharpest of headaches.

Rubix was trying her best today to focus hard, but not that hard. Though somehow, it happened again. The voice returned, as clear and kind as ever but Rubix didn't want to hear a single word as she clamped her ears shut in a desperate attempt to block them out. But of course, it was no use.

" _Oh my...this set looks wonderful. You outdid yourself today. I...I truly hope you find a profession in this, but only if you want to."_ The voice said, her face a complete blur, _" But that begs the question...what is it that you'd like to do?"_

"Agh, just stop it!" Rubix cried as she kicked the air, her eyes opening wide. Her breathing got quicker and she could feel a headache coming on. She was already dreading the feeling of it, knowing it'd probably be severe as this was one of the longer memories she encountered. Lately, she had gotten better at stopping the clear ones dead in their tracks, but that voice, as warm and compassionate as ever, was enticing and their words always left Rubix wondering if there had been a life she had left behind.

Rubix then shook her head, deciding enough was enough and took a break from searching. But, she didn't want to start thinking about that memory so to take her mind off things, she did the only other thing Lilith would approve of: Make a Defective.

Rubix took a good long look at the city below her to find a suitable target for a Defective before she spotted the same girl Domino found at the park crying over her broken plush.

"Good enough." Rubix declared as she disappeared to the park.

Asuna was almost at her home when she heard the cry of a Defective filling the air. Asuna groaned and turned to her right only to find a giraffe Defective in the distance.

"Disgusting." Asuna commented, her eyes narrowed as she reached for her phone and PlayPact, holding the latter up high as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"

Teddy looked at the Defective curiously, narrowing her eyes to figure out exactly where it was located. When she noticed a tall slide and swing set within the vicinity, she felt uneasy and unwillingly darted towards the Defective.

Once Teddy got close enough to the Defective, she realized she had yet to be noticed by the Defective tall enough to touch the clouds. Teddy smirked, for once her height gave her an advantage and just dialed up some numbers on her phone. She leapt up into one of the trees and held her phone out before shooting a sphere made from fire towards the Defective's neck.

"They told me not to do this but…" Teddy said as the Defective roared, loud enough for it to startle the girls on the other side of the line.

The girls were chiding Teddy for alerting them like this and all she could say in response was, "See you soon!"

The Defective was on the lookout for Teddy, now that it knew a Pretty Cure was around, but it was having a hard time finding her, since she blended in well with her environment.

"Hm, who would've thought wearing neutral colours as a magical girl would've come in handy?" Teddy said to herself quietly as she hid behind a tree," But still, I don't have a lot of time until it finds me, so what can I do against it?"

" _Actually, a better question would be how would I even go about fighting this thing?_ " Teddy thought to herself, her eyes narrowed as she looked at the Defective skeptically," I don't think it'd be very good at fighting, it'd be best to just detain it if anything."

Teddy surveyed the park closely, she knew this place much better than the Defective, so deciding on a way to detain it shouldn't have been too hard.

Just then, Teddy heard a voice shout out," She's over there!"

She looked towards where the voice came from and discovered Rubix floating near the Defective.

Teddy squinted her eyes at Rubix and sighed, before fleeing her hiding spot. The Defective chased after her, being much faster as Teddy was expecting. But, once Teddy realized it was only chasing her, with little intent on doing anything else, Teddy felt like she had an advantage again.

She skidded to a stop and turned around to face the Defective, shouting out," So what do you plan on doing? Chasing me around to death?"

Teddy backed in a tree without realizing it and suddenly, Rubix appeared before her.

"This Defective isn't much of a fighter, that's why I'm here." Rubix explained casually as she looked at the pawprint brooch on Teddy's bow. Rubix took a swift step closer to her and in the next moment, placed a translucent pink cube around Teddy's wrists to keep her from attacking. Teddy tried taking a step back but Rubix grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt and took a deep breath before she tried to rip the brooch off of Teddy. But, it wasn't to any avail as a gold light bursted out from it and shot Rubix back a few feet.

"What the hell was that?" Rubix questioned as she tenderly held onto her left hand, which felt like it was burning right now.

Teddy ripped the cube cuffs apart and walked up to Rubix. When she got close enough, she knelt slightly and remarked,  
"That was low, even for you."

" _I should've been able to grab that brooch, I don't understand."_ Rubix thought to herself as she held her hand tightly.

Rubix then looked up to Teddy, who didn't seem interested in giving Rubix more time to think.

"I just picked a troublesome Cure to try revoking the powers of." Rubix said to herself quietly while reminding herself of how much she had already achieved for Asperity,"But it's fine, you'd be much more troublesome with your teammates."

Rubix then lifted her hands up and a bright blue cube with a grid on it surrounded her and Teddy.

"As an opponent, I actually quite like you more than the others." Rubix stated as she took a step forward," You're not dependant on your magic, you don't craft elaborate schemes, you just like fighting. So how about it?, No Defectives, no magic, just two enemies settling things the old-fashioned way."

"Whatever." Teddy answered flatly as she dashed towards Rubix, who only knelt to the ground for a moment and touched it lightly. Just then, the cube shifted and Teddy was running along the side of it, just before she fell on the ground.

"I probably shouldn't have trusted her when she said no magic." Teddy said to herself as she got up.

The Defective had roamed off a while ago and found the three Pretty Cure who were just as unsure of how to fight as it as Teddy was. The trio was currently running from the Defective and trying to come to a decision on what to do against the Defective.

"Well, I mean…" Dolly began briskly, her pace slowing as she watched the Defective," We could always-"

"-You don't fight giraffes!" Bubbly exasperated as she held her hands out towards the Defective," They are peaceful creatures who mean no harm!"

"Bubbly, remember. It's not a real giraffe. It's a Defective." Fantasy explained to her patiently," But...it doesn't seem like much of a fighter, I think our best bet is to simply calm it down and try to get through to it."

"I don't think it'd be willing to listen though. Unless we find a way to keep it from running around for a bit."

While they were running, Dolly then noticed something in the park that would've been of use to them. She ran a bit faster than the Cures and turned around to face the Defective while running.

"Is running all your good for?" Dolly asked the Defective, who got riled up from her comment and chased after her quicker. Fantasy and Bubbly took a break from running after realizing that the Defective only had its sights on Dolly.

"What is she up to?" Fantasy asked, before Bubbly pointed out the jungle gym structure a few feet away.

"Will that actually work though?" Fantasy questioned skeptically, with Bubbly only shrugging in response.

Dolly leapt through the jungle gym and emerged out and the Defective tried following after her, only to get tangled up and stuck inside of it. It tried to break free, but it had trouble in doing so.

"Alright, so we're going to have a little talk, Ok?" Dolly declared to the Defective as she stood on top of the jungle gym, before taking a seat in front of the Defective.

Teddy and Rubix were still fighting in the cube, both of them evenly matched, especially since they both had control over the shifting of the cube. Teddy thought being able to shift the cube's movements would've given her the upper hand but, Rubix was adept in fighting as she said and was quick to adapt to the cube-shifting. Teddy was about the change the cube's position with a touch on the cube's side, but she could tell Rubix was anticipating it, so instead she ran towards Rubix, with her fists balled. Rubix stood close to one of the cube sides and evaded her attack with ease, but then Teddy punched the side of the cube and sent Rubix thrashing around the cube against her will.

Rubix was thrown onto the ground by the cube and sat with her back against one of the cube sides.

Teddy stepped towards Rubix, much less tense now and declared," Remember, the chances of winning may seem low against the likes of you, but they aren't at zero."

Rubix wore a frustrated look on her face fell silent in Teddy's presence, her thoughts muddled before she noticed the giraffe Defective getting purified by bright lights in the distance.

A few moments later, the rest of the Cures rushed to the scene and found the two of them. Rubix simply pressed her palms against the ground and finally said,

"We should be the ones saying that, especially when we've already found the Princess, the King's Patchwork Heart, and the Well! We have nearly everything we need and when we've collected all our pieces, we're going to unleash an army of Defectives so great, you'll wish I ended your Pretty Cure careers sooner." Rubix responded, excitement brimming up in her voice," Trust me, you won't even be able to reach Lilith when we're through with you."

Rubix dispelled the cube and stood up, smiling as she noticed that Dolly turned slightly pale.

"Are you still sure of your team? Because it doesn't quite look like it." Rubix pointed out, before she disappeared.

Dolly was too caught up in her thoughts to listen to the others Cures discussing how this could've happened, and all she wanted to figure out was what their missing piece was.

" _She mentioned the Patchwork Heart of the King. Was she talking about...the Mage's Patchwork Heart?"_ Dolly thought to herself. Dolly looked over to the group and tried settling them down, saying,

"Either way, we're in no position to quit. I don't want to feel sad and guilty right now, I want to get even. So for that, we have to work as effectively as we ever have as a team, find the thing that they need first and figure how to disengage their Defective army. We have to make a plan worth relying on, it's all we can do now."

The Cures nodded in response, and all Dolly could offer them a pained smile.

The girls parted ways, and eventually, Asuna reached the Morino household and found Hiraku sitting by himself in the living room. Asuna failed to recognize him though and only cautiously stood near the doorway, studying the bleach-blond sprawled out on her couch.

"Hello?" Asuna asked cautiously, with the boy bouncing up excitedly, who smiled and ran to her.

"Asuna! Finally, you're home!" Hiraku exclaimed cheerfully, as he led her to the couch," C'mon, we've got so much catching up to do."

Despite the fact that Asuna had been taken aback by Hiraku's appearance, she realized soon enough that his personality hadn't changed all that much. He was still that energetic, kind-hearted boy who Asuna always felt comfortable around. After all these years, Asuna's social skills were still lacking, so she didn't allow people to become all that close to her. She didn't even consider her friends from her own circle that close. But, Hiraku was different because he did everything he could to make Asuna feel welcome in his presence without even trying that hard. Even if a lot of time had passed, Hiraku was still like a breath of fresh air to her.

"Um...I wasn't intending on asking this, but...I had been curious to know…"Asuna began awkwardly," Do you remember the time I twisted my ankle and you gave me a cat plush with a note?"

"I remember when you twisted your ankle but...I never gave you a cat plush and a note." Hiraku answered tonelessly," Did you want to ask the sender about that note?"

"Someone in the neighbourhood liked me…" Asuna explained, before a realization of who the sender with the initials of H.M was," And they've moved on. Now I'm the one who likes them."

Asuna drew out a sigh and continued, "But, no matter what I do, I can't get through to them. I can't change their mind so I just-"

"-You know, you've said 'I' an awful lot of times, have you only been thinking of your feelings?" Hiraku then curiously asked," If you really love them, then their happiness should matter more to you, not whether or not they like you. I fell for someone in this neighbourhood too. But they couldn't return my feelings. I'm not mad at them, I'm not going to question their choice. Instead, I'll accept it, and do whatever needs to be done for us to stay friends."

Asuna nodded hesitantly in response, and Hiraku placed a hand on her shoulder, as he said in a reassuring voice," There's nothing wrong in trying to be their friend, right?"

Tadashi and Hayase were upstairs, trying to pack away some of Tadashi's belongings into moving boxes. When Tadashi's back was turned though, Hayase was using magic to put some of the heavier items away in the boxes.

"I'm glad Asuna and Hiraku were able to spend some time together this afternoon. She never did admit it, but I knew she liked having him around." Tadashi remarked in a somewhat prideful tone as he pushed a full box near the door," Plus, I think she could've really used his company and advice at a time like this, maybe you could learn a thing or two from him while he's here."

Hayase rolled his eyes and the two continued packing things up.


	37. Teamwork

Studying wasn't likely to happen today. Not at this point, when Rani appeared to be getting close to discovering the remaining components left of Asperity's dark shards. Kiriko pretended she wasn't interested, claiming that right now, her studies for her next test took priority, which they should've, but the longer Rani kept on working away on the other end of Kiriko's study table, the harder it became for Kiriko to focus on her studies.

She caved in, and finally decided to observe Rani and her experimenting, wanting to take part, but knowing something like this would've been out of her element since Rani was likely dealing with components found only in the kingdom.

Kiriko leaned closer towards Rani and the shard fragment she was tinkering with, cutting it with the utmost care in fear of shattering it. Rani was too immersed in her shard cutting to even notice that Kiriko had stopped trying to study.

Idly, Rani said to herself," No matter what combination of elements I try, nothing seems to react with the shard. Not to mention it's a pain to cut over and over again."

Kiriko nodded in understanding, picking up the remaining chunk of the shard they had left, which was getting smaller and smaller as the days passed.

"You're almost running out of elements that the shard could be made of too right?" Kiriko questioned, taking a look at the document Rani had opened on her laptop. Almost all the elements listed from the kingdom were crossed out, and the list was much shorter than when they first received it.

"And...you're sure we can't go through the door and just find someone in the kingdom who could identify it?" Kiriko asked, alerting Rani greatly who only shook her head in an instant.

"No, I wouldn't want to trouble the people of the kingdom, not when they have worse to worry about." Rani explained with a rather forced chuckle as she returned to inspecting the shard. Kiriko frowned, unimpressed with Rani's dishonest behaviour but deciding that now definitely wasn't the time for an interrogation. Kiriko glanced at the door, still carved into her bedroom and hidden by an old blanket she had, making it look like an entrance to a blanket fort. She would've liked to step through the door to see just what had been making Rani and Nova so on edge about returning to the kingdom, but Kiriko wasn't all that sure if she was ready to find out.

So, she went downstairs and returned quickly with Rani's favourite snack, apples with peanut butter on top. She slid the plate towards Rani and upon seeing it, the little elephant's expression went from uneasy to pleased. Rani took a break from her work and took a slice off from the plate, happily munching on it. Kiriko smiled at the sight of a less frustrated Rani, and then thought about the shards.

While Rani ate the apples, Kiriko stared at the microscope on her desk and considered how she could be of any help to Rani. To think that two other elements were used to create the shards was hard to believe, but Kiriko couldn't simply deny the facts laid out in front of her.

Kiriko walked out of her bedroom and went outside, sitting on the porch bench for a little bit, while gazing up at the sky. The feeling of being so useless, so unable to provide answers really made Kiriko question her abilities and position as a leader. She had been beginning to view herself as someone who was bound to get the job done, a responsible person who could show results, but watching herself and Rani continuously hitting deadends was making her feel beyond guilty.

Kiriko drew out an awfully long sigh and considered the options she had left. She already told her team that she didn't want to sulk, even if it would've felt so good to do so, so instead, she tried to take matters into her own hands again and went on a walk to the library.

It was getting close to sunset, and there was a strong chill in the air but Kiriko didn't seem to mind, too focused to go forth to the library. If she couldn't find answers at home, then maybe she stood a chance in a different environment.

Asuna and Misa were walking together to an arcade that Misa claimed that Asuna would've loved going to since she loved video games, though it appeared that out of the two, it was Misa who was more excited. Misa was going on about how she had heard good things about this place and how they even had things like karaoke rooms and bowling, but Asuna didn't appear as interested as Misa hoped. Misa pretended that she didn't notice how absent-minded Asuna was being and only continued talking, hoping something she said would've enticed her.

Misa knew better than anyone out of their friends that Asuna hadn't been her usual self as of lately and she couldn't tell what was bothering her because as per usual, Asuna wouldn't dare speak about her problems. Asuna always, _without fail,_ kept her troubles to herself but to Misa it was blatantly obvious that something was up. It was almost comical how bad Asuna was at hiding how she felt. But perhaps the most comical thing about this was how little trust Asuna had in her friends to confide in them.

Misa wondered if dragging Asuna to the arcade was even worth it, especially when Asuna was clearly worlds away from her right now. Misa looked forward and found they weren't too far from the arcade now, but at this point, all the excitement she had been trying to build up in Asuna and herself had diminished and she was only left with an inexplicable feeling of dread.

This was her fault somehow, Misa was sure of it, though she wasn't fully sure how. It was probably because she wasn't paying attention when Asuna was gaining interest in befriending the vice-president. Sure, Kiriko didn't seem like a bad person but...their friendship or whatever they had going on didn't make sense to Misa. And it was clear to her that asking Asuna about it was out of the question, since she'd just deny it regardless.

Asuna was only thinking about Asperity, and how things would change so much after this final battle, regardless of the outcome. She felt frustrated in herself, and also anxious as she thought about how little time they had left until their Pretty Cure careers reached their end. To be relieved of these duties would've been great, but if they'd be under the wrong circumstances made her wonder if she was ready.

If they were to lose, everything would change, wouldn't it? Asuna wondered how greatly things would change and what she'd no longer be able to enjoy if Asperity obtained victory. It was a frustrating thought, the concept of being left out of the know and feeling helpless.

She didn't want to admit either, not to anybody at all but, Asuna was scared. Scared of losing a fight she had been working so hard to win, scared of losing her teammates, scared of losing those she held close around her. Not fighting was a guarantee to lose, but fighting against Asperity didn't guarantee anything, which only made Asuna grow anxious.

Before she even realized it, she and Misa were already at the entrance of the arcade. The two stood back for a moment, allowing a couple to exit the arcade. Asuna made eye-contact with the boy and recognized him within seconds, in disbelief of what she was seeing.

Asuna then asked, "Aren't you-?"

"-Oh hey. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Sophie was in her room, laying flat on her bed as she responded to a mass of emails she had received over the last couple of days. Her modelling career had finally picked back up again, now that she felt like her work had meaning again. These last few weeks had kept her so busy, it was both hectic yet calming in a sense. Perhaps calm wasn't exactly how she was feeling, it was more like a sensation of composure that came with having some stability in her life. A feeling she was certain her life wouldn't know for long.

Sophie closed her emails for a moment and reached for her PlayPact on her side table. It had been so long since she had it, but it hadn't even felt like all that much time had passed. She held her PlayPact tight and only stared at it for a few moments before she opened it up. She looked at her reflection thoughtfully, before finally taking her gaze away from the PlayPact and zoned out at the ceiling.

Out of her whole team, she always felt like the one who was the most out of touch and out of place in all of this. She never quite viewed herself as the magical girl type, but...she never really viewed herself as ordinary either. It was an odd feeling to try to put into words but...somehow, Sophie always felt like her Pretty Cure awakening was by chance. The others felt very in tune, and there had been times where Sophie wondered if she had been on par with her teammates. Sometimes, she felt like if she could've been stronger, more intuitive with her magic like the others were, than maybe she wouldn't have felt as inferior as she did. But, after all this time, Sophie knew there wasn't any merit in beating herself up over what could've been. She knew she'd only see results by doing something.

But then, she also considered how there may not be another chance for her to even use her magic again, no matter how their final battle would've ended. Sophie stared at her palm for a few moments and then felt this unusual sense of disappointment as she clenched her hand into a fist.

Maybe her magic wasn't as strong as her teammates, but it wasn't like it didn't exist. The strength of her magic didn't define her potential, she kept saying to herself, but if that didn't then what did?

The memory of Amina, smiling before seeing Sophie off from the afternoon they spent together ran through her mind and the sight of Amina's warm and caring smile changed Sophie's perspective for a moment.

Sophie then wondered about what was most important to her right now. What was it that she wanted from this final battle? Sure, protecting the kingdom was important. But, without a definite goal, something that would make her feel like she had no other choice push herself beyond her limits, she wondered if she really stood a chance.

"I need something to make my resolve strong, why do I want to fight? What can my magic do that nobody else's can?" Sophie asked aloud as she held her PlayPact close,"What do I want to protect most?"

Just then, she heard the sound of her dad's car parking outside and soon after, the sound of her siblings cheering and shouting filled the house.

"Of course." Sophie said to herself, a large smile appearing on her face before her sisters Anika and Inna walked into her room.

" _I have something that I'm willing to protect with all my life. If I can't step forward and fight one last time with everything I've got, what kind of Pretty Cure would I be?"_ Sophie thought to herself.

Mari was walking home from a shoot she had with her friend Shinobu. Things went well, as always, but Shinobu failed to notice how distracted Mari was today. Her shots were the best they had ever been , but Mari was too busy thinking about other things today to rejoice over today's accomplishment.

The walk home had been a lot quieter than usual too, since Mari would typically listen to music on the way home. Perhaps it would've done her some good to listen to some of her favourite songs to take her mind off of things. But, all Mari wanted to think about was their final battle with Asperity and Cure Cheer's untimely passing.

Mari was certain that Cure Cheer had unwillingly left behind people who loved her very much, friends, family, there probably wasn't a single soul in the kingdom who hadn't grieved after her final battle. Once Mari got closer to her house, she then wondered what it would've been like to have Cure Cheer on her team. The thought of it made her smile as she further entertained it.

Cheer would've been a great addition, albeit an older one, due to her experience and attitude. Her mom would tell stories of how Cure Cheer was said to be a highly-disciplined leader with a strong sense of justice. She had good judgement but she was always trying her best to be friendly towards others. She wasn't social by nature, but she was good at adapting to new situations and could work accordingly.

The idea of fighting alongside Cure Cheer was enticing, if only it could've been a reality. Mari hung her head, reminding herself that she lived in a world that no longer had Cure Cheer, and it was up to her team now to set things straight with Asperity.

When Mari opened the door to her house, she found her mom sitting in the living room, going through the Lost Kingdom of Toys books. Her mom motioned her over, and Mari took a seat next to her, looking through the pages of the first book from the series.

"I never really told you much about my illustrator for the first and second books. But perhaps now would be a good time to talk about her." Satomi said as she flipped through the pages.

" _Excuse me, miss?" A younger Satomi called out to a girl walking ahead of her with black hair dipped-dyed burgundy that reached her shoulders. Her hands were laced behind her head and she was walking with a group of her friends. She turned around to see who was calling to her and blew a bubble with her gum._

" ' _Sup?" She asked Satomi as she waited for the older woman to catch up to her._

" _I noticed your drawings in the cafe, I wanted to speak with you about a potential position you might be interested in." Satomi explained to her._

 _Her friends seemed more interested than she did, since the girl only stared at Satomi with a blank look on her face._

 _Satomi managed to get the girl, Misora, to come to her house so she could better explain herself. Misora was a lot more outgoing than she previously assumed thankfully and was willing to hear her out._

" _So, to summarize. I think your art would be perfect for my storybooks. What do you say?" Satomi asked her, excitement creeping up into her voice. Misora stared at her for a few moments, that same blank look from before in her blue-green eyes. Misora then leaned towards the table and picked up the manuscript for the books, the book's title piquing her interest._

" _Ok, I'm in." Misora answered with a grin, leading Satomi to nearly jump out of her seat in joy._

 _Despite the fact that Misora was still a high-school student, she was always able to deliver her work on time and always impressed Satomi with her illustrations. It really was true that a picture could paint a thousand words, and all Misora ever seemed to need was a sentence to determine what each page's illustration would look like. Everything was so well-detailed and brightly coloured, her art made Satomi feel as if she was staring at photos from home even though such an invention like a camera had yet to appear in the kingdom. Satomi was beyond amazed, Misora was keen on creating just what Satomi envisioned, not even knowing that this was more than a mere work of fiction._

 _When the first set of illustrations for the first book had been finished, Satomi and Misora looked through them together. Satomi was only viewing them with admiration while Misora was looking for any errors in her art._

" _I love them, you have no idea how I...I would've never expected my little story to have art so beautiful for it. I'm really in your debt Misora." Satomi remarked as she organized the sheets of the book._

 _Misora nodded and smiled, placing a hand on Satomi's shoulders as she said," Remember, you're the one who wrote the darn thing. I'm just...bringing your words to life I guess."_

 _Misora then picked out the first sheet from the pile and studied it for a few long moments. She held it up and her eyes looked vacant as she continued to look at the illustration she made of a castle with a field of flowers surrounding it under a pastel sky._

" _It would be nice if a place like this existed...wouldn't it?" Misora asked, though it didn't sound as if the question was directed to Satomi._

"Misora's art was unlike anything I had ever seen, it somehow felt like it was ahead of its time. I see illustrations online every now and then that remind me of her style and then I get excited but...I know it's not her." Satomi declared with a defeated look in her eye," When we were working on concepts for the third book, Misora didn't seem as enthusiastic but she continued. She only produced loose sketches and then...something happened."

"Yeah, it was the creative differences, right?" Mari asked her, who only stared at the cover of the first book.

"Misora disappeared. She was missing from school but she lived on her own and nobody could get in contact with her parents. Weeks passed and she had yet to be found, everyone was losing hope. But...I didn't. I continued to search around the usual spots she hung out at with her friends, but I never saw Misora again. I gave up after a while, I was so upset with the turn of events that by the time the art for the third book was completed by the new illustrator, I just didn't want the books to be published. I may not have known Misora all that well but regardless, I miss her. She did everything she could to bring colour to my writing and… she was a good friend to me."

Mari fell quiet, nodding in understanding but feeling a wave of guilt coming over knowing that her mom might have to experience losing someone dearly close to her again. Mari took a deep breath and put on a somewhat forced smile, saying,

"Even if Misora's gone, I'm glad you decided to share the story after all these years because at this point, I think it belongs to both of you. She must've loved it as much as you did to create such lovely art for it. I know many kids have fallen in love with the story the way Misora did, I think she would've been happy to see your tale receive all this attention."

Satomi then nodded after a few moments, smiling as she held the first book close as she said,  
"Perhaps these books were just as important to her as they are to me."

Mari then excused herself and went up to her room. She closed the door quietly and moments later, she slid down against the door and broke down into tears. The guilt she had been feeling for months now that came from not telling her parents was gnawing away at her gradually and thinking about the final battle made her feel so powerless. Both outcomes made her fearful and she couldn't bring herself to think about her team losing, or the team winning but the four of them meeting their demise the way Cure Cheer did.

Mari shook her head, in complete disbelief of the thoughts that swarmed through her head. Weren't the other girls scared of winning at the cost of their lives? Were they all somehow ready to bereave their families?

Clearly, the other Cures were only conscious of two outcomes: Either winning and everything would go back to normal or a bitter defeat.

"If I was in Cure Cheer's shoes, the last thing I'd want is for someone else to have to succeed me. This has all been so fun but at the same time, I don't want things to end like this." Mari said to herself," I...I don't want to end like this."

Mari then took a deep breath, leaning against the door and asking aloud," I wonder if Cure Cheer knew what was in store for her. Did she expect to win, but at the same time lose? Was she ready to fight all on her own?"

After saying that aloud, Mari came to a realization. She had something that Cure Cheer didn't and that was teammates. She had a whole team that was surely ready to back her up and that she could rely on. The difference between her and Cheer was that she didn't have to worry as much about her own weaknesses, for what she lacked in, her team made up for. Not to mention, she wasn't going into this battle alone, everyone was fully capable of fighting against Asperity, plus they were still working on the ace up their sleeve.

Mari then sprung up from her seat and collected her things to dash out of the house. She reached for her cellphone in her pocket as she ran down the street and waited for the other person on the line to pick up.

"Oh wow, Mari I was just going to call you, what's up?" Kiriko said on the other end.

"How can I help? I mean...with this whole Asperity shard predicament? I understand there hasn't been a lot of progress made but...if there's anything and I mean anything I can do, please let me know!"

"Yeah, about that, are you able to head to the library for a little bit? Asuna and Sophie are on the way." Kiriko explained to her.

Days had passed and Asperity was no longer the familiar home that Domino and Bounce had grown to love. Staying here for too long was literally becoming unbearable, all thanks to blackened magic that Lilith had created through corrupting Arabella's magic. Arabella and Kai had been unconscious ever since Rubix brought them to Asperity and Lilith had already removed their Patchwork Hearts, keeping in glass confinements but not telling anyone how she planned to use them.

Domino was walking through the halls of Asperity without any direction, but then someone appeared from a corner and dragged him into a room. Domino would've screamed, if his programming didn't keep his voice monotone and found Bounce holding onto him with both of her hands.

"Let's get out of here." Bounce declared, her eyes wide and fixed on him. That look in her eye, it admittedly made him uncomfortable, since that unrelenting, unforgiving expression reminded him so much of her father.

Domino only shook his head, saying," And where, pray tell, do you think we should head off to? The kingdom, where we'd get eaten alive? Your mother would never approve of such a thing."

"No, let's go to Earth, and we'll convince her to come with us." Bounce explained, as she tugged onto Domino's arm, but he wouldn't budge.

"You don't really expect that to work, do you?" Domino asked her, surprised by the fact Bounce wasn't so quick to admit defeat with such a foolish plan," I thought you'd hated the earthlings anyways.

"They've got nice critters, plus...if Jack was able to do it, why can't we?" Bounce questioned, her eyes downcast as she finally stopped tugging on his arm," I don't care about all this fighting anymore, not when it's ruined everything. I just...I just want to be with you guys, and not have to worry about how I'm going to lose next."

Domino was taken aback by Bounce's words and pulled her in for a hug. He looked down at her for a moment and felt an odd sense of defeat, since their reasons for no longer wanting to fight weren't aligned. Bounce didn't care about what was morally right or wrong, as long as she could be with her loved ones. An admirable sentiment, albeit an immature one. Did Bounce understand the error in her ways, had she yet to understand that they were in the wrong?

They were forced into this, all because Lilith was family and because she managed to convince them the kingdom was corrupt. Maybe Lilith was right, but...was it a cause worth fighting for like this?

Maybe it would've been better to have a fresh start on Earth, maybe reunite with Jack and that girl he fell for, and live without the guilt that came with being a member of Asperity. Domino then pictured him, Jack, Bounce and Takara all living in a house together, doing human things like watching tv and going to lavish restaurants. Wouldn't that have been nice?

"Lilith, I'm home~!" Domino then heard a voice echo through the halls. The two of them couldn't believe their ears and exchanged suspicious looks before darting out of the room to find where the voice had come from. Standing a couple feet away from them was Jack, inspecting his surroundings as he looked for Lilith.

Domino and Bounce ran after Jack, with the former running faster to him.

"Jack, you came back!" Bounce hollered as she leapt onto his back and hugged him," What took you so long?"

Jack grinned to Bounce and waved at Domino, who seemed a bit less unenthusiastic with Jack standing before him. Neither of them said a word for a few moments and only stared at each other.

An uneasy feeling came over Domino, but he didn't say anything except," It's nice to see you again."

"Back at ya. So, can you guys lead me to Lilith? " Jack requested, " This place was always hard to navigate through, but now I can barely find anything."

Domino nodded and led the way for him. Jack was right though, the arrangement of Asperity's rooms had always shifted frequently, but with these recent developments, it somehow became more frequent for the shifting of the rooms. It was no surprise that the three of them habitually got themselves lost while ambling through these halls.

Soon enough, the three of them found the little conference room that Lilith and Rubix frequented and Lilith stood with her shock and disbelief in her eyes as she shouted,

"Jack, you've returned!"

She rushed over and held both of his hands, and Jack smiled at her in slight discomfort as he nodded. He let go of her hands and started to walk around the room, as if he was on a stage and proclaimed,

"That's right everyone! Your favourite member of Asperity has made their long-awaited return! I had to do some work undercover for the sake of Asperity, so I took it upon myself to fake my defeat. While in truth, I was searching for and trying to harvest more corrupted Patchwork Hearts for the team. I have to admit, it was absolutely dreadful being on Earth for that long, but I'm back and nothing will stop me from my goal."

Jack then chuckled and stated in a sheepish tone," Because of my lengthy absence, I'd like to know some details and progress we've made so far. Domino, would you mind bringing me up to speed?"

Domino nodded hesitantly and Jack then grinned saying," Awesome! You guys probably have a bunch of important stuff to do, don't you? I'll let you guys return to your work while Domino tells me what's up."

Lilith nodded and led herself and Bounce out of the room. Jack then closed the door and once it was only the two of them, the smile on his face disappeared within an instant.

"I need your help." Jack declared, his voice fully serious now with an intent look in his eye as he showed Domino the the almost-black burn in the center of his hand from Lilith," We're gonna work with the Pretty Cure, and put an end to Asperity once and for all."

"I beg your pardon, we're going to _what_?" Domino responded in utter disbelief.

Jack walked closer to him, placing a hand on his shoulder as he said," Neither of us want to see Asperity continue like this. It isn't fair to any of us. That magic Lilith has been feeding off of from Nixe has gotten too strong, it's made her delusional. If we don't do something, we're going to lose that queen of darkness and tear this family apart."

"Jack, that's your sister!" Domino reminded him in a reprimanding voice.

"She's yours too. And that's exactly why we need to end all of this, because I don't know about but...I don't want to see her being brain-washed like this any longer." Jack replied, his tone remaining calm," We've been trying to create an anti-black shard. Something that will reverse their effects so that Asperity won't be able to partake in a final battle."

 _Asuna and Jack were the last to arrive at the library and found the girls all sitting at a table with a stack of heavy books around them. Asuna looked at the group skeptically, wondering how much work had been done so far._

" _Just what do you think you're doing here?" Kiriko questioned vehemently as soon as she laid eyes on Jack, placing both of her hands on the table._

" _Relax, nerd. I was on a date and then the redhead dragged me here." Jack said in his defense, as he took a seat, "You want to reverse the effects of the shards, right?"_

 _Kiriko nodded hesitantly, holding out her notebook and a page she flipped to in a book about minerals._

" _Rani said the shard contains Everlight. It was the first element we were able to uncover, but since then...we've been hitting deadends on what the other components could be."_

 _Jack nodded in understanding and then Kiriko pushed the mineral book closer to him._

" _And then, I came across this element here, I'm not sure if it's actually in the shards. It's sugar charcoal. It seems like an odd thing to place into the shards but-"_

" _You're correct. There is sugar charcoal found in the shards." Jack interjected as he pointed to the picture in the book," The charcoal gives the shards not only its dark colour, but their strength too. If you guys have been experimenting with the one shard you have, you must have noticed how hard it was to cut it."_

" _Sugar charcoal is sparse in the kingdom, we had an easier time finding it on Earth. The rest of the components are probably a lot harder to identify, since they were severely mutated and enhanced with cheap chemicals from the kingdom." Jack explained to the team, " To be honest, every batch of shards had different things put into it, but we always used Everlight and sugar charcoal. We'd use similar chemicals to achieve the same looking shards, but the only ones that know that each one was made differently are me and Domino."_

" _Hm, you never did strike me as all that bright to be honest…" Asuna remarked, her eyes narrowed on him._

" _Look, I may seem like dolt but I am by no means incompetent." Jack pointed out to her flatly._

" _You caught on fire one time, do you really think we won't see you as anything but a dolt?" Asuna replied, still as unconvinced as before._

" _Ok, well...if you guys had been using different chemicals for every batch then we're right back to square one." Kiriko stated, a defeated look on her face as she felt her heart sink," We can't counter these shards if we're trying to figure out the elements of what could be a whole differently made shard at this point.."_

" _Not quite." Jack said to her," All the shards have one thing they're weak against. They can't work and their effects will be reversed once they're in contact with it."_

 _The rest of the girls looked excited, though Kiriko only appeared anxious as she asked," Well, what is it?"_

" _Your finishing attack." Jack answered, but the girls didn't seem to be following," That's the only proven weakness against the shards. And at this point, do you girls have any time to be searching for another method?"_

" _But what are we supposed to do? Break into your hideout and purify your batch?" Kiriko questioned sarcastically, while Jack rolled his eyes at her._

" _I'll ask about it." Jack reassured her," In the meantime, keep an eye out for the Mage's Patchwork Heart. If Lilith gets a hold of it, then we'll have yet another problem on our hands."_

"So, what can we do?" Jack asked as he took a seat," I was really hoping that if there was someone with a solution, it'd be you."

Domino then thought for a few moments and then, excitedly, he pulled out a blank roll of blueprint paper and started to draft something up.

"What if the Cures were to direct their attack at an item that wouldn't be purified but rather...hold onto their attack?" Domino suggested as he drew what appeared to be a box," It could keep the attack to be used for a later time and then, at the press of a button, it simply unleashes the attack!"

"Could we really make something like that?" Jack asked curiously as he looked at Domino's blueprints.

"It's worth a shot, I'll try my very best to make it work." Domino assured him," You were right, we let this go on for far too long. Asperity...it's about time its met it's downfall."

Jack then nodded and replied with," As of right now, this stays between us. Not even Bounce gets to know, she's too much of a child to understand the gravity of the issue. She wants nothing more than to be with her loved ones. As long as we're together, she couldn't care less about what happens to anyone else."

Domino then drew out a sigh, saying," I couldn't agree with you more. I'm going to get to work on this, you can help out if you'd like."

Jack nodded and pulled his seat closer to take a better look at Domino's blueprints.

Kiriko sat with Mari inside the school study hall, the two of them in complete silence as they read through their assigned readings from their textbooks. Both of them appeared to have trouble focusing but neither wanted to admit it. Kiriko was zoned out on a picture of a glass refracting light in her textbook, but all she could think about was their final battle was getting closer and closer.

At this point, everyone could tell Kiriko had been frustrated with their findings and discovery about the shards, and that she was having some trouble fully trusting Jack and Domino. But she reminded herself for the hundredth time today that she didn't have any other choice left.

Mari finally noticed the troubled look on Kiriko's face and offered her a smile of sympathy, placing her hand on Kiriko's as she said,

"Don't worry, we're all feeling as anxious as you are. All we can do now is keep a lookout for the Mage's Patchwork Heart."

Kiriko exasperated a sigh and replied with," It seems almost impossible at this point. Especially when we've never had any leads and Asperity continues to find all the pieces they need."

Kiriko took a sip from her water bottle and commented," We have too much of a disadvantage as is."

"That may be true but...we have each other, don't we?" Mari reminded her," You said it yourself you wanted to get even right? So, how are we supposed to do that if you start beating yourself up before Asperity gets a chance to? Plus, if anything, _they're_ the ones at the disadvantage. If you haven't noticed, we have members on the opposing side helping us."

Kiriko smiled at her, feeling less tense now as she closed her textbook.

"Yeah... we'll be alright." Kiriko declared as she stood up from her seat," Come on, I think we should take a walk around."

Asuna stood at the arcade doors, waiting around for Jack to arrive. He told the team he'd check in with them every two days to report their progress on their device. Last time they met, Jack explained how he and Domino were facing difficulties with assembling the item and getting it to work properly. Asuna felt nervous about today's meeting, hoping that things would've gotten better since their last meeting.

Jack eventually arrived, hands stuffed in his pockets before he waved to Asuna.

"Took you long enough." Asuna scoffed as she stopped leaning against the door," So, any improvements on the device?"

Jack then took something out from his pocket, a white, red and blue cube with a bunch of different buttons on it. Asuna's eyes widened at the sight of it, taking it into her own hands. The cube looked similar to a Rubick's cube, but there was a cavity in the center of each side that could be pressed like a button.

"Consider it done." Jack answered with a smirk, though Asuna didn't pay much attention to him and instead started pressing the random buttons," Hey, don't press it so carelessly! Look, there's a sequence for storing an attack and releasing one. To store an attack, you're gonna press blue, white, red, white before shooting an attack to it. To release, you'll press white, red, white, blue. You'll also want to keep a few feet away from it when releasing an attack. I'd suggest tossing it at your target, but Domino said it was too reckless. "

"Thank you, we could've never done this without you guys." Asuna said, giving Jack a small smile," It really means a lot."

"Uh, don't mention it." Jack replied awkwardly," I would've never even thought to help out until we met here that day. I guess it wasn't so bad being of use to the enemy."

"By the way, who was that girl you were with?" Asuna asked.

"Oh, that was Takara. She likes coming here to show off her dance moves on that DDR thing from time to time. She's partly the reason I left Asperity in the first place." Jack explained, his cheeks tinting red," I told her everything and she still wants to be with me despite my past. Guess that makes her a keeper."

Asuna nodded in understanding, while looking at her reflection in the cube. The cube was small, but it fit just right in her hands. Holding it filled her up with excitement though her face didn't show it.

Sophie stood in her backyard, her early dismissal from school today allowed her to spend some extra time with her siblings. She had planned something special for them anyways, something that she knew may not have been the best thing to share, but regardless, she may not receive another chance to.

Anika and Inna were the first to enter the backyard, then came Erik, and then Liam.

Liam held onto his soccer ball and looked at the group curiously asking," Weren't we gonna have a big soccer game?"

Sophie giggled and shook her head, saying," No, I've got something better to show you guys. It took a bit of practice to get it right, but I think you'll all enjoy what you're about to see."

Sophie took a deep breath and shut her eyes, holding her hands in front of each other. Moments later, a stream of bubbles shot out from them and she directed her hands up into the air. The four of them were shocked by Sophie's display, but Sophie wasn't done just yet.

"Don't go bursting my bubble, Erik!" Sophie said as she created a massive bubble, almost bigger than Erik and sent it towards him. Erik caught it, but he nearly lost balance as he tried to catch the bubble.

"Cool! It's like a beach ball!" Erik exclaimed as he tossed it to Anika. Anika barely caught it and almost fell over just like him, and soon enough, the four kids were tossing bubbles around that Sophie made for each of them.

Inna took a break from playing with her sets of bubbles and then walked over to Sophie and tugged on her sleeve, asking," How did you make all the bubbles?"

Sophie motioned her to take a seat and then she said," It all started with a kingdom of toys…"

Bounce was finally allowed to leave Asperity with Lilith's permission, claiming that she needed to catch some sunlight before she shriveled up and withered away. Lilith of course wasn't buying her claim at all, but still let her leave regardless.

Once Bounce was out of Asperity, she made use of this opportunity and started her hunt, beginning her search at the school. If she didn't have a single lead, perhaps she wouldn't have been as motivated as she was, but then she did some thinking, and thought back to the day when the frogs were running around the school. There was a moment when it appeared there was someone around with strong, unpredictable magic, but Bounce hadn't paid any mind to it, too hung up on the fight at the time. It may not have been much evidence, but the blast of magic that turned the bench into a multitude of stars raised her suspicions, if only she had investigated that same day.

But not all hope was lost. If the event happened at the school, that had to have meant that the person behind it was a student here.

"That person has to be here, the owner of the Mage's Patchwork Heart." Bounce said to herself.

Bounce then noticed Misato walking out of the school, looking rather on edge as he looked around the school courtyard. Bounce smiled to herself and floated down to the Earth, standing right in front of him in a few moments.

"How goes it~?" Bounce asked him in the most upbeat voice she could manage. Misato looked at her curiously, but he wasn't as shocked as she expected him to be.

"I can't really talk right now, I'm busy and have a bunch of stuff to work on as a student-body presidential candidate, you wouldn't understand." Misato declared, though he was shaking like a leaf in her presence. He tried to walk away, but Bounce wasn't done with him yet.

"I really need your help though. One of my friends is in danger…" Bounce said to him, but he wasn't interested," Tell me, have you seen any strange happenings around here, one that involves an explosion of little blue stars?"

Misato stood as still as a statue, unsure of exactly what to respond with.

Bounce smiled brightly, saying," You have, haven't you?"

Hayase was busy organizing some papers in the classrooms where the council meetings were usually held, though today wasn't their meeting day. He'd grown comfortable of simply spending time here to work away on the paperwork for student council and the faculty didn't really mind, as long as he kept the room tidy. He was almost done for the day, but then he heard a knock on the door and found Misato standing in the doorway. He smiled at Misato and the younger student walked into the classroom.

"Hey, what's up?" Hayase asked him, taking note of how tense Misato looked. He simply assumed that Misato was feeling uneasy about the elections for student council drawing near so he didn't think much of his troubled expression.

"I have...someone here who wants to meet you." Misato said quietly, his eyes fixated on the floor.

"Ok, well… let them in." Hayase instructed plainly as he glanced at the doorway. Moments later, Bounce peeked out from the side of the doorway and grinned at Hayase.

"How ya doing?" Bounce asked him cheerfully, though the sight of her made Hayase feel sick to his stomach. He had never met her once, but there was this intuitive feeling in him that said this girl was trouble.

"I'm fine, what brings you here?" Hayase asked her, his tone still level.

Asuna was walking towards the school, where Kiriko told her to meet the rest of the team since she received the cube from Jack. It was a lot quieter in the late afternoon, almost everyone had gone home at this point. The quiet school made her feel a bit uneasy, though at the same time, the empty schoolyard devoid of chatter was at the same time peaceful.

Nova peeked out from her bag and then asked her," Do you think you're ready?"

"I...I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Asuna answered with a nod as she walked quicker towards the school.

Asuna texted Kiriko on her way there, requesting their location. Kiriko told her to meet the rest of the group in the study hall and a few minutes later, Asuna arrived at a table where Kiriko, Mari and Sophie could be found, with Rani sitting on top of the table.

Kiriko motioned Asuna to take a seat next to her and Asuna did just that while placing the cube on the table. The group stared at it curiously, all with different looks on their faces. Kiriko thought it looked a lot less astounding than expected, and somewhat ordinary, looking like a cheap knockoff version of a Rubick's cube. But Sophie and Mari were very much intrigued by the cube, the former taking it into her hands, almost pressing the buttons before Asuna instructed her against it.

"Press one of those and you'll be dealing out a gigantic finisher in the library." Asuna said, her eyes narrowed on the cube. Sophie's eyes widened and cautiously, she returned the cube to its spot on the table.

"Well, we might not have everything we could possibly use to our advantage but, I have faith in our team." Kiriko declared as she took a stand from her seat," Each of us has a unique magic, a type of strength that the Toychest Pretty Cure wouldn't be able to function without. That's precisely why we decided on the name Toychest Pretty Cure anyways. Each member of this team is unsuspecting in a sense, but we're all very determined and powerful individuals. We didn't ask to be a part of this and yet, we all stayed until the very end. I couldn't have for a better, or cuter team!"

The three girls sitting exchanged glances and smiled, each of them standing up and walking towards Kiriko. Kiriko looked confused as they got close and came in for a group hug. Kiriko laughed awkwardly and while she wasn't usually one for group hugs, this one felt like it was much needed.

Just then, the girls heard a scream from outside the library that echoed throughout the halls. Kiriko had a blank look on her eye for a moment before taking a deep breath. Strangely enough, she didn't feel any sense of fear or panic, and instead was calm and feeling ready.

"I guess this is it." Kiriko said, as she pulled out her PlayPact while running out of the library. The rest of the team followed suite and Kiriko led them to an almost empty classroom where Bounce and Rubix could be found standing in front of a black and violet vortex.

"You guys are done for!" Bounce exclaimed as she gave the team a thumbs-down while stepping into the vortex," We've already got everything we need! The era of Asperity starts now!"

"No, not just yet!" Kiriko said as she held her PlayPact in front of herself, "We aren't going down without a fight!"

"Pretty Cure, it's Playtime!" The four of them shouted together.

"The princess of wishes, Cure Dolly!"

"The dame of courage, Cure Teddy!"

"The sailor of justice, Cure Bubbly!"

"The creator of dreams, Cure Fantasy!"

"When evil is near, playtime is here!" The four of them announced," Together we are...Toychest Pretty Cure!"

Bounce groaned, not surprised that the Cures weren't willing to admit defeat so easily. Yeah, a fight with them would've been entertaining, but knowing that Asperity would be sure of winning at this rate made things a lot less interesting.

"Can't you already you've already lost? We got loads more power than you now, you won't get far-" Bounce said, though she was interrupted in mid-sentence by the vortex beginning to suck in everyone in the room. As soon as the vortex absorbed everyone, it blinked out of existence.

The Cures were falling in a dark hyperspace, all of them screaming.

"Where the heck are we going?" Bubbly shouted as she clung onto her hat.

"We must be headed to Asperity!" Dolly yelled to the team," We're going to settle things, once and for all!"


	38. Broken Toys

Suddenly, everyone was inside a dark room filled with vials and measuring cups everywhere. Once Dolly figured out where they were, she wore a slightly distressed look on her face. Everyone else seemed unsure of their new surroundings and eyed the room suspiciously.

There was a small TV in the room, where Jack and Domino were able to watch them through a room somewhere inside Asperity.

"Well, we did our part in transporting them to the lab, the rest is up to them." Domino stated as the two of them continued to observe the group.

"You're in our territory now, this is where it all ends!" Bounce claimed with a smirk.

"You're right." Teddy responded in an uncharacteristically calm voice as she took a step forward, holding out the cube that rattled in her hands before she tossed it up into the air.

The cube exploded and unleashed a blinding bright white and gold light that bathed the entire room. The light erased all of the shards and chemicals that were used to create them. When the light disappeared, Bounce and Rubix looked at the room in pure shock of their findings.

Domino and Jack high-fived in their room upon seeing the lab emptied out.

"...This really is where it all ends." Dolly said to them, as she and the rest of the team took a fighting stance.

Bounce eyed the girls suspiciously before she realized there weren't any shards left in the left in the lab. She inspected the tables and all the vials that were scattered on top of it, only to learn the shards were all gone. Bounce was shocked to find their inventory of shards had been wiped clean in a matter of seconds, but Rubix didn't seem as worried. Bounce's eyes met Rubix's and she was irritated to see Rubix keeping her composure despite their situation.

"Our stock of shards is all gone and this is how you react?" Bounce questioned her frantically but Rubix shook her head.

"It's not gone, well...not all of it." Rubix said as she disappeared from the room. Everyone else in the room was on edge, wondering what Rubix had in store.

Just then, the appearance of the room altered and before the girls knew it, they were outside in the human world. Everything looked normal, but something felt off to the team. The girls each noticed a very pale white light getting emitted from each of them, as if they weren't on the same plane of existence.

"What happened?" Fantasy asked as she tried to touch a nearby lamp post, but her hand went through it.

Bounce turned around and saw Rubix floating up high in the air. Unlike the rest of them, she didn't have the faint white light glowing from her.

" _What is she planning?"_ Bounce thought to herself as she kept her gaze on Rubix.

 _Rubix was about to leave the conference room with Bounce after Lilith told them the plan, but Lilith kept her back._

" _I haven't finished explaining your role in this plan." Lilith explained as she reached for Rubix's arm._

 _Lilith gestured towards the seats and after a few long moments of staring at her superior, Rubix took a seat._

" _If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I can't no longer trust everyone in Asperity. Not because I fear they will betray me, it's just that they've yet to do so. We need to have a backup plan, in the case that we lose any of the pieces we worked so hard to obtain." Lilith explained, with Rubix nodding slowly in response, "If that happens, I don't want to feel like I'm at a loss, I need your help to recover from that setback."_

 _Lilith then snapped and floating in the palm of her hand was a dark violet Patchwork heart with light blue, pink and purple patches on it. Rubix looked uncomfortable, staring at the Patchwork heart in Lilith's hand._

" _I know you'd sacrifice it all, without a single doubt." Lilith said to her as a warm smile appeared on her face._

 _Rubix didn't know how to respond to such a claim, and only rigidly nodded._

"I guess this army will be much smaller, but...that's not much to worry about." Rubix said to herself as she looked down at the city below her.

Rubix closed her eyes and then chanted," Culprit of nightmares Nixe, please grant me your strength to do your bidding. There's nothing more I want than your victory."

Rubix's magic felt much more ominous than before, it was enthralling in a sense to feel so much more powerful but at the same time to acquire so much power so quickly was a bit overwhelming for her. She clutched her chest for a moment and squeezed her eyes shut before she pushed away the hair that covered her right eye, revealing it to be a case of split heterochromia being half violet and blue, with her sclera black.

She then laughed to herself quietly for a few moments, a giant grin on her face as she looked up to the sky and shouted," Defectives, get ready for your second coming!"

Just then, the sky turned a dark violet, as if it became night and then suddenly, select people across town were falling unconscious.

Bubbly recognized one of the few who had fallen unconscious around them and pointed out," We saved that kid from turning into a Defective at the library a couple of months ago!"

Dolly looked around and noticed that there were more Defectives popping up around town in the distance, each of them made from a plush toy. Some of them weren't familiar to her but the majority of them were plush toys Defectives that they had fought in the past, and seeing them march through the town gave her an uneasy feeling.

"Just what did she do?" Dolly said under her breath as the Defectives continued to walk around aimlessly.

Rubix then called out to the Defectives in the loudest voice she could manage, saying," You have all been chosen to tear down a nation that's been in need of restoration for years now. You will be crucial to our restoration process, becoming the harbingers of the Laruan Kingdom's demolition.."

Rubix then held her hand out and waved it around, conjuring up a pink vortex.

"She's heading to the kingdom!" Teddy shouted as she pointed to the vortex," Come on, we gotta follow her!"

Dolly then grabbed a hold of her arm to stop her, as she chided," Did you forget? We're not actually here." She probably just made us her audience to rile up us."

The room was restored and the girls were inside the lab again, with all them focused on heading to the kingdom, Bounce included.

" _Rubix gets to go to the Kingdom?"_ Bounce thought to herself before she looked up at the ceiling," _It would've been nice to tag along and see what that place actually looked like."_

Just then, the ground trembled and the girls looked around the room in alarm as pieces of the ceiling started falling around them, only to reveal darkness beyond them. The only one who wasn't phased was Bounce, who only stood in the corner after a chunk of the ceiling nearly dropped on to her head. Bounce drew out a sigh as she looked up at what was left of the ceiling.

"Without mom here, this place isn't holding up all that well…I expected it to last a bit longer if anything." Bounce said to herself quietly.

Sterling looked out the windows of the room where he and Imogen would hold meetings with the nobles in, seeing a hoard of Defectives led by Rubix flood into the kingdom. Sterling was alone in the room, Imogen was downstairs with the knights, who tried to devise a battle plan while she tried getting a hold of the Pretty Cure. Imogen wasn't having any luck and kep her gaze only on the device in front of her that allowed her to communicate between the worlds. Imogen took a deep breath and bit her lip, knowing she only had one thing left to do before she let the knights leave to protect the kingdom.

"We need to close off all the gates to the other dimensions." Imogen declared, her tone stern and determined, though the knights didn't appear to be on board with her.

"But the Pretty Cure aren't here yet! We can't fight without them." Head knight River reminded her.

"I know, but I don't want these Defectives travelling to other realms and wreaking havoc in places they have no business in! I don't know just what Lilith is planning, but I don't want her to cause any extra damage." Imogen explained in a near frantic voice," I'll give them five minutes. If they don't arrive, then I'm sealing up the kingdom."

"But, shouldn't we at least keep one gate to at least the human world open for them?" River pointed out," If we fail here, who knows what will happen to the civilians and yourself, I can't let you put so much trust in me that we're without room for error."

"River, this is my way of telling you to leave room for error. This is the biggest fight you'll ever have to face. We haven't been met with a fight like this since Cure Cheer's passing, this could either end in victory, or an early retirement. I know we seldom see battles like this in the kingdom."

Imogen then leaned closer, her voice lowered to a whisper as she said," And I know you, River. I know there's a part of you exhilarated to fight with everything you have. Please, I can't protect this kingdom by myself. I'm not letting Lilith have her way and extinguish my kingdom."

Imogen then stood in front of the knights and raised her voice, saying," You've all been hand-selected, the finest team of knights the Laruan Kingdom has ever seen and I need you to have faith in yourselves. Right now, it looks like the Pretty Cure are facing some difficulties on Earth, so all we can do is fight as a unit. We need to become a wall so tough that Lilith can't get through. There's only one of her. If she's gone, the fight is over. Please everyone, give it everything you got!"

Sterling continued to look out to the window and pressed his fingertips against the glass as a sharp chill filled the air. A pained look appeared onto his face and for a very brief second, it was accompanied with a smile.

"It's truly been awhile, hasn't it?" Sterling said, not even turning around to face the other person in the room. Lilith stood there, holding a black and violet rose in her hands, gripping it tightly once Sterling spun around.

"I have an offer to make." Lilith stated tonelessly as she held onto the rose," We need to talk in private."

"I'll only talk with you if you make your Defectives desist." Sterling responded plainly. Lilith took a deep breath, and did as told.

The Defectives on the battlefield stopped moving and stood like statues on the field, confusing everyone greatly.

Lilith's gaze no longer met Sterling's as she handed Sterling the rose, who took it cautiously. Lilith then conjured up a portal for herself and Sterling to enter through.

Rubix looked at her Defective army in question, shaking her head as she tried figuring out what could've happened. She tried everything to get her army to revive, but nothing worked. She sighed, finally accepting the idea of what must've happened.

"Lilith made them stop, likely because she was forced to." Rubix said to herself, her head hung," I'm below in strength, I can't hope to control them when they're under her command."

A voice then appeared in Rubix's head, but it wasn't the one that appeared in her subconscious, this voice was new.

"Oh Rubix, don't be so hard on yourself. You're much stronger than you think." The voice said to her," I think you just need a little helping hand is all."

Rubix's hand lifted up against her will and she waved it over in front of the Defectives. The Defectives were brought back to life in a mere matter of seconds, surprising Rubix greatly.

"I really did that...but how…?" Rubix said as she looked towards the group of Defectives, raring to go. She thought it best not to focus on the matter at hand and led the Defectives towards the castle.

"Do your worst." Rubix demanded, though her tone was a lot quieter than intended. It appeared she had to recover from the surprising, yet mysterious surge of power from moments before.

The Pretty Cure and Bounce escaped the room, but Bounce separated from the group and the girls were too busy trying to decide their best move to even notice Bounce's absence.

"We gotta head to the kingdom and help them out!" Bubbly insisted, with Dolly nodding in response.

"As of right now, it would appear the real fight is taking place in the kingdom. We don't really have any business here if that's where Lilith and all the action is." Dolly affirmed as she looked over to Rani and Nova," Can you make one of those door things around here to let us head to the kingdom?"

Rani nodded and just before the two of them got started, they heard a pair of screams pierce through the halls of Asperity. The Cures all recognized those voices, each of them with an anxious feeling settling into them as they exchanged glances.

"That sorta sounded like...Jack and Domino." Teddy pointed out, with the Cures nodding in agreement.

"We should try to find them and see if they're ok, I mean it's the least we could do." Fantasy pointed out.

"Then let's get going." Dolly declared as the Cures ran out of the room and into the long, wide hallway.

Despite the fact that it was fairly dark throughout Asperity, the Cures didn't have it that hard maneuvering through the organization. Soon enough, they reached a large room, with a screen in the center and claws reaching out around the room. There was a control panel in the center and the lights in the room kept flashing a different colour every few moments.

"What the hell is going on?" Dolly asked as she pressed her eyes shut for a moment, feeling as if she was about to get a headache. Shortly after, the sounds of alarms were blaring through the room, but between the sound of each alarm, the sound of someone shouting "Help!" could be heard.

Dolly then looked at the screen again and found what looked identical to the domino piece that would rest under the glass dome where Domino's head was supposed to be. Only, the domino piece spun around without end in a panic onscreen. The Cures looked at the screen apprehensively and figured that somehow, this room had to have been linked to Domino.

Dolly took a deep breath and finally said," We gotta save him."

Bubbly then replied nervously with, "But...what about the-?"

"We'll need to split up in a situation like this." Fantasy decided as her eyes met Dolly's," You and Teddy help them out. We'll go to the kingdom and face the army."

"You guy will be ok?" Dolly asked hesitantly, with Fantasy placing a hand on her shoulder, nodding in response.

"You can count on us." Fantasy reaffirmed before she turned her attention to Rani and Nova," We'll go somewhere quieter for you to make the door."

"Do your best!" Bubbly called out to the girls before the four took their leave, taking a hold of both Dolly and Teddy's hands for a moment, " We need to reunite again, alright?"

Dolly and Teddy looked at her in surprise, with the latter saying," Of course. See you soon, ok?"

"Come back soon." Dolly said to Fantasy before the team broke into two.

Fantasy, Bubbly and the fairies then ran out of the room, and Fantasy led them back to the hallway near the crumbling lab they exited.

"This will have to do." Fantasy stated as she pointed to the wall closest to them," We need to hurry."

"But...should we really be leaving them behind? What if that's exactly what Lilith wants?" Bubbly pointed out warily.

Fantasy looked at her for a few long moments, her lips pursed before she said," Right now, my home is in danger. I can't face my parents if I allow Lilith to do as she pleases. She probably doesn't even realize we're here. We don't have any other choice."

Bubbly then nodded slowly and Fantasy instructed the fairies to create the door to the Kingdom.

Dolly and Teddy were standing backs against each other in the room, still close to the door as the lights continued to flash in the room. The alarms were as loud as ever and gave Teddy no choice but to press her ears shut as Dolly tried devising a plan.

Dolly then said," Jack's probably going through the same thing, I need you to find him and help him on your own. Do you think you can manage that?"

Teddy then smirked and responded with," Without a doubt."

Teddy then tried to bolt out of the room but the second she attempted to do so, the door slammed shut on her. Teddy jumped back a few feet and only glared at the door, now locked, in front of her.

"Well, I guess this will have to be a two against one type of battle. Teddy remarked as she and Dolly stared at the main screen with the giant domino on it,"Jack might have to wait."

"If we're lucky, we might be able to shut this room down like a regular computer if that master keyboard has the control, alt and delete keys." Dolly stated, though Teddy wasn't really following, since whenever her own computer would freeze, she'd shut it down by force," I'm going to see if it has those keys!"

Dolly darted towards the master board, narrowing dodging all of the claws coming her way but she landed on a tile that seemed to sink under her weight. Suddenly, the tile disappeared and Dolly was exiting the room through a slide beneath the tile. Dolly screamed and Teddy tried following after her, but the entrance into the slide closed up as the tile reappeared.

"Damn it, how am I supposed to fight this one without that nerd?" Teddy said under her breath as she watched the claws in the room try to reach her," What did she say again? Press the...control, malt, and delete keys?"

The slide spat Dolly out to the lower level of Asperity, where she saw nobody else around in the empty halls. Dolly shook her head in frustration, already feeling worried of what would become of her teammate without her.

Dolly stood up, taking a deep breath as she tried to refocus on the issue at hand. She peered around the hall hoping to find a stairwell but didn't expect to find a way out of here so easily. She had a hard enough time seeing what was ahead of her in the dimly lit hallway, she didn't stand a chance to return to the room where Teddy was fighting Domino.

As Dolly walked quietly along the hall, she heard a faint growling sound that got gradually louder as she stepped closer. Dolly took one final step to see exactly what awaited her within the shadows.

A figure about eight feet tall could be seen and finally, they came out of the shadows, revealing themselves to be a giant tiger with piercing red eyes and black sclerae wearing black shorts. Dolly jumped back a few feet as the tiger growled in her face, her breathing getting quick as she locked eyes with the tiger.

The tiger looked irate and restless, but Dolly could've sworn there was a somewhat pained look in its eye as it approached Dolly. After taking a closer look at the tiger, Dolly came to a conclusion: This tiger was probably Jack.

"Exactly how am I supposed to fight a tiger?" Dolly questioned with a groan as the tiger held out its hand and slammed it onto the ground, causing the ground to tremble greatly. Dolly was knocked off her feet and watched as Jack hit his paw against the wall, leaving a small crater in it. Dolly narrowed her eyes at Jack as she stood up and dusted off her dress.

Bubbly, Fantasy and the fairies were standing in a field in the Laruan Kingdom, in complete shock of their surroundings that no longer resembled the kingdom they knew. What was once a pastel paradise filled with life and magic had been diminished into a bleak, grey terrain without any magic. It was a sore sight for the group, especially Rani and Nova as their whole mission had been to prevent all of this.

"How did this happen?" Bubbly questioned as she held Nova tighter in her hands as if to comfort her," What's been going on around here?"

Fantasy kept quiet for a few extra moments and took note of the dejected look on Rani's face, though it appeared she wasn't as surprised as the two Cures. This was probably why they had been avoiding returning to the kingdom. Fantasy held Rani and only looked at the horizon beyond her, almost feeling overwhelmed by such an abject scene.

"This was because the well disappeared from the kingdom for so long, right?" Fantasy asked, with Rani nodding in response," Alright, well, we know where the well is...once we stop the little bunch of Defectives, then we'll be closer to retrieving it. We can't get discouraged so easily, we're here anyways right? We have no other choice but to try."

Bubbly and the fairies nodded, just before they all heard the sounds of a herd of Defectives nearby. The girls spun around and found the army of Defectives in the distance and ran to the scene.

When the four of them arrived, they were all surprised to find what awaited them near the kingdom's castle. The kingdom's knights were doing their best to fight against the Defectives, but despite all their efforts, they still seemed to be outmatched and were meeting their defeat one by one. When a knight no longer had the will to fight, Rubix would harvest their Patchwork Heart and corrupt it so she could add to her army of Defectives.

Bubbly held her hands to her mouth as she watched a knight drop to the ground unconscious, while Fantasy only balled her fists, a look filled with rage in her eyes.

"Rubix, you heartless monster! When will you be satisfied? Why do the members of the kingdom need to fall victim to you?" Fantasy shouted to Rubix, who only rolled her eyes at her.

Fantasy then hung her head but continued to speak.

"You know, you always struck me as a very confused person. Someone without direction and was very unsure of their own purpose. And you know what? You still feel like that kind of person."

Rubix drew out a sigh and said," Haven't I made it obvious to you? Who I once was, whatever I used to be no longer concerns me. I am nothing but a loyal follower to Nixe and Lilith. My allegiance is to Asperity and only Asperity."

"Woman, does your brain even work?!" Bubbly then shouted out vehemently, startling both Fantasy and the fairies," You've been habitually doing the wrong thing and you can't even justify your actions! All you do is go off about how loyal and devoted you are to Asperity but nobody cares! You're nothing but a...a, a brainwashed jerk!"

Rubix felt her blood begin to boil, but she was oddly calm. She said nothing in response to Bubbly and only held her hand out in front of herself. A dark violet beam then shot out of her palm and headed straight towards the Cures, but then Head Knight River blocked it with his sword. The attack was deflected and River held his shield in front of himself.

"You girls have to be more careful! Something isn't quite right with that woman." River said to them, with Bubbly nodding in response.

"Believe me, we've known that for awhile." Bubbly replied before she set eyes on Rubix again. The look in Rubix's eyes was a lot different than usual now that Bubbly got a better look at her. The typical indifferent and irritated look in her eye was replaced with a more serene yet remorseless look to them. Not only that, her magic, or aura, or whatever it was felt off. She felt more powerful, as if she had a darker magic flowing from her. It would've been tough to recognize her on solely sensing her magic because it didn't even feel like hers.

"Knight River, let these girls fight alongside you!" Rani pleaded," They came all the way from Earth specifically to help you take this army of Defectives down!"

River nodded and responded with," It would be an honour to fight as your ally. But...these Defectives are much more aggressive than we expected. I think they're drawing their power out from the same source as that woman."

Fantasy nodded and then the two cures took on a fighting stance as a group of Defectives ran towards them.

The Defectives and the Cures began to fight against each other, with the knights at their aid and fending off the army from the castle. As the Cures fought against the Defectives from the army, the Cures realized River's theory was right, as these Defectives fought much differently from what they were used to. Bubbly wanted to try talking to them to see if their voices could reach the brainwashed plushmates, but Fantasy was against it, claiming that whatever was controlling was much more powerful than before.

"Right now, there's no getting through to these Defectives." Fantasy said as she dodged a punch from a Defective," Talking to them would be like talking to a brick wall, or Rubix."

So the Cures continued to fight, with no idea of how much longer it'd take for the army's numbers to drop.

Bounce ambled through the halls of Asperity, trying to figure out where everyone else went. This part of Asperity wasn't collapsing on itself like the lab, just a little bit of crumbling of the walls here and there. Ideally, she would've been fighting against the Pretty Cure right now but she had yet to cross paths with them again, making her wonder if she was ever going to find them after so long.

"Pretty Cures? Elephant thingy? Unicorn toy?" Bounce called out flatly, though she was doubtful she'd hear back from any of them," Good grief, now what I am supposed to do in the meanwhile?"

Just then, she heard the sound of a kind of knock, not the one you'd hear on wood, but rather the one from knocking against a glass door. Though the knock sounded far from gentle, it was impatient, forceful and very obnoxious. The knocking on the glass wouldn't stop and so Bounce took it upon herself to see who was knocking on what. Bounce walked up the hallway and found a huge encasement of Everlight that touched the ceiling of the room with a boy knocking against it. His hair was a bright pink with blue and purple streaks and he wouldn't stop, not even for a second to break the encasement.

"Ah, so that's where Rubix kept you." Bounce remarked as she took a seat in front of him, crossing her legs," Knock all you want, but you won't get far. The Everlight is feeding off of your magic."

He narrowed his eyes at her, shaking his head as he replied with," Need I remind I have more magic that you could fathom?"

Bounce scoffed and held back on a laugh, commenting," Yeah, more magic than you know what to do with. You may have the blood of a mage but you've been raised as an earthling. You don't know what you're doing when it comes to this magic stuff. It's quite tragic, since you have such good genes and yet...you're powerless. We lucked out big time with you having zero knowledge on how your powers work. Instead of honing them, you pretended they didn't exist, didn't you? "

He opened his mouth to answer, but he couldn't respond, knowing his answer wouldn't have been adequate. It wasn't by choice, he was forced to act like he was normal, like he didn't have an abundance of magic...all to be safe and kept a secret from the likes of Lilith.

"Really sucks to be you right now." Bounce stated as she stood up, offering him a pitied look though there was a smile on her face. Her hands drummed the surface of the Everlight encasement as she started to study Hayase. Hayase glared at her as he pressed his fists against the encasement.

"Gosh, you look so much like your sister." Bounce remarked with a cringe before she did a quick inspection of the wall of Everlight that kept her away from Hayase," This encasement will be making better use of your powers than you ever could. You'll be helping our restoration plan by reassigning the roles in the kingdom."

"You mean make sure Lilith gets power over everyone and enslaves the kingdom?" Hayase questioned flatly as he took a seat for a moment.

"Maybe~!" Bounce answered with a wink.

Teddy stood in the domino room, panting and heaving in as many breaths as she could before the claws came for her again. They were relentless and chased her around the room, but the claws couldn't reach her when she got close to the locked doors of the room, which became her only safe zone. It was hard enough to even think with the room still flashing bright colours every few seconds and the loud alarms pulsating through. Teddy wanted to clasp her ears shut, to yell at the room to shut up, though she knew it wouldn't do her any good.

A claw lunged for her while she was standing in her little safe zone, but the best she could do was simply kick it away while she tried to think of a plan .

From the other side of the screen, Domino was fixed onto a chair where his dome for a head was connected to a bunch of wires and the control panel on his sleeve was broken. It had short-circuited earlier, moments after the girls destroyed the lab and Domino surmised that if it wasn't Lilith who was responsible for what happened to him and Jack, it had to be Nixe. He had no control over what was happening in the room but his control panel looked identical to the room's master keyboard.

" _Nixe is using my powers for their own bidding."_ Domino thought to himself as he tried to break free from the chair, _" We should've escaped as soon as the cures destroyed the lab."_

Domino then looked at the screen again and watched Teddy struggle against the claws as she tried to run towards the masterboard. She had tried to press the control alt delete keys like Dolly suggested but it was to no avail and nothing happened upon keying in the sequence. Domino could swear he felt his heart sink when he saw the look of disappointment on her face, after coming so far. But, she wasn't quite ready to give up, that much he could tell, and she continued to run towards the masterboard. Domino was curious to see what she had planned and only hoped that she'd get there unscathed.

Teddy ducked from a claw trying to grab her, only to get grabbed by another one and get thrown across the room. She shrieked as she crashed into a wall before standing herself up again moments later. She sighed and slapped her face without a second thought, rushing back towards the masterboard while trying to dodge the claws again. She narrowly dodged yet another claw and leaned back, falling into the grasp of a claw right behind her. The claw lifted her up high and she kicked around in a desperate attempt to break free. Teddy groaned in frustration as she hung her head, clearly she wasn't going to get anywhere at this rate. She felt her heart sink for a moment, wishing that she was doing anything else in this final battle except this. Fighting against an army of Defectives had to be nothing compared to this. Teddy then slammed her elbow into the claw that held onto her and was dropped. Her small victory didn't satisfy her though and all she could focus on was heading to the masterboard.

Domino watched her intently as she fought her way to the masterboard, running on top of claws that were trying to grab her and throw her back. She was faster than before, the adrenaline coursed through her veins as she inched closer to the masterboard.

Once she reached the masterboard again, she stood still for a moment and studied the board carefully. And then, she gracelessly placed both her hands on the board and pressed all the buttons in one sweep, though it didn't do what she was hoping.

" _Just what is she doing?"_ Domino thought to himself as he reluctantly continued to watch Teddy toy with the keyboard.

"Why...aren't...you...shutting...off?!" Teddy questioned impatiently as she continued to press down on all the keys on the board, only to hear a new type of sound accompanied by the alarm, one that sounded like an 'error' notification," Good grief, I'm never going to figure this out!"

The alarms of the room stopped blaring for a moment, and the lights shut off, leaving Teddy in the darkness, but the claws were still active.

"It appears that's the best you can do." A voice remarked in the room," Are you sure you're fit to go on like this?"

Dolly reached a point on her battle where she began questioning literally everything she could. She felt a bit unlucky, since she likely would've had an easier time fighting in the domino room. Dolly sighed and shook her head and continued on in her fight against Jack. She barely managed to dodge another of those tremors he kept making and kept her distance from him. It was evident that Jack would've been strongest in close combat so the farther she kept from him, the better. Dolly then looked at the floor and took note of the distance between her and Jack. On random spots on the floor, tiny violet tornados could be seen.

Jack ran towards her and stepped on a tornado without realizing it, getting blown back a couple of feet and crashing into the wall a few feet behind him.

"I used a similar tactic during one of our first battles, it's a good thing I remembered it." Dolly said to herself as she watched Jack get back up," If I can continue using this against him, I won't have to use up my strengths in a battle like this. I'd be better off saving my energy for Lilith anyways."

But then Jack slammed his foot onto the floor again and all the tornadoes were activated at once, leaving Dolly wide open.

Dolly cringed at the sight of all the tornadoes flying up in the air just to dissipate seconds later. She shrugged and simply ran towards Jack, reluctant to draw closer but not having any other option. She jumped up but the moment she did, Jack grabbed a hold of her and flung her into the wall.

Dolly tried to stand back up, but she desperately needed a moment to catch her breath. She looked at Jack for a few moments and compared him to the past Defectives her team had faced. He was much bigger than a regular Defective, and come to think of it, he was a lot stronger too. Not to mention, she didn't have the rest of her team with her.

" _It shouldn't be so hard to outsmart him while he's in this form, and yet...I'm facing a lot of trouble._ " Dolly thought to herself as she surveyed Jack for a few long moments. Jack then started dashing towards her, and impulsively, Dolly shouted out,

"Pretty Cure, wishing tempest!"

The attack hit Jack dead on, but once he recovered from the attack moments later, he didn't appear as aggravated as Dolly expected. If anything, he seemed more frustrated with himself. He looked down at his paw and gripped it tightly, shaking his head in disapproval.

Dolly let her guard down for only a second, a sense of hope creeping up into her and she said softly," Jack?"

All of a sudden, Jack held his head tightly as if he was getting a migraine and squeezed his eyes shut. Dolly wanted to approach him, but she decided against it and only watched him carefully to determine his next move.

There was a voice in his mind that kept dictating orders and while he would've much prefered to tune that voice out, it seems the voice had more power over him than he realized.

"Don't worry, I won't let that Pretty Cure hurt you. In fact, I'm going to do everything in my power to make you unstoppable. You'd like that, right? Surely, you'd rather be someone who towers over his enemies and reigns victorious. I'll make sure you do just that." The voice reassured him in a gentle, yet devious tone.

Jack took a deep breath for a moment, just to try achieving some calm amidst the unrelenting chaos. He was aware this wasn't Lilith's doing, it had to be Nixe taking over Asperity in Lilith's absence. It wasn't fair for him and Domino to get caught in this, but Jack knew they had it coming. If Lilith hadn't suspected a thing with Jack's return, then Nixe had to have noticed. Whatever Nixe was, it was certain they were a cruel being, deciding to punish Jack and Domino in the most severe way possible, but waiting until the very last minute to do so.

" _Nixe really isn't a force to be messed with."_ Jack and Domino thought.

Jack grew bigger, he was at least ten feet tall now and his eyes were pure red. He had razor sharp claws and teeth, and he could no longer tune out the voice that kept drilling through his brain. He completely fell victim to the voice and he was no longer in control of his own movements. He growled again, his voice piercing through the room before he darted towards Dolly at breakneck speed. Dolly ran as quick as she could, as if her life depended on it, but she didn't have anywhere to escape in the narrow hallway. But she had no other choice and continued to run, before the two of them entered a room at the end of the hallway. The room was medium-sized and emptied out, though it was rather dim inside. Dolly struggled to outrun him and found herself cornered soon enough. Her breathing quickened as she watched Jack

inch closer.

" _I shouldn't be panicking in a situation like this!"_ Dolly thought to herself desperately, _" I need to calm down and come up with some kind of strategy!"_

Jack growled again and startled Dolly, resulting in her retreating closer to the wall behind her, almost clinging to it at this point with her heart in her throat.

" _What am I thinking? No matter what kind of strategy or plan I come up with, I can't execute anything good enough without my teammates! I'm outclassed here, nothing I do will work if I'm not able to compete with him physically."_ Dolly thought to herself anxiously as she stood with her back in the corner, _" But...I'm not in any place to give up, not after coming this far!"_

" _Plus...I can't let my team down when they're trying their best! What kind of leader would I be if I didn't do the same thing?"_ Dolly thought to herself.

Jack took another step closer and lunged towards Dolly, who instinctively ducked and evaded his attack, holding her hands in front of herself in a defensive manner as she shouted,

"Pretty Cure, Wishing Tempest!"

Dolly scurried out of the way while Jack was carried up into the air by a violent gale as a handful of Polaroid photos out from his pockets. Dolly looked up at the photos flying around her with a puzzled look on her face as one of them fell into her grasp.

"Maybe I can make use of this…" Dolly said to herself as she closely examined the photo.

Bubbly and Fantasy were barely able to keep up with the number of Defectives against them.

The army wasn't dropping in numbers while the knights had been losing members at a rapid rate, only for them to get turned into Defectives by Rubix. Only a couple of knights remained, their stamina near depleted just like the Cures as they continued their fight against the Defectives.

Rubix had disappeared since and entrusted the remaining Defectives with the task of extracting each Patchwork Heart from a defeated knight.

Bubbly ran towards a whole group of Defectives and held her hands out shouting," Pretty Cure, Bubbling Impact!"

The Defectives were each trapped in gigantic bubbles and floated up into the air, but the Defectives broke free from the bubbles and crashed back down on the battlegrounds. The Defectives just continued to fight as if nothing happened.

Bubbly frowned at the sight, hoping that getting thrown onto the ground from such a high altitude would've dealt some damage.

"These Defectives aren't tiring out! We won't have long until it's just the two of us and the Defectives." Bubbly pointed out as she dodged a punch from a Defective made from one of the knights. Another one tried to attack her from behind, but River covered up her blind spot.

"The ones made from my team of knights will be stronger than the original members of this army. Since they had stronger Patchwork Hearts from the kingdom's magic." River explained as he swung his sword at the Defective that tried attacking Bubbly.

"Great, so not only are we outnumbered, but we're overpowered too." Fantasy commented as she dodged an attack from a Defective," At this rate, we won't be able to regroup with Dolly and Teddy."

After all of this fighting, the Defective army didn't even appear to be the slightest bit affected. The idea of not being able to fend off this army and joining them inevitably made knots form in Fantasy's stomach. But, the only thing that made her feel worse about their current situation was the fact that if they did lose, many people would've lost their home, including her own mother.

Bubbly looked over her shoulder, noticing the look of guilt on Fantasy's face as the Cure clad in white looked down for a moment. Bubbly let River take over for fighting on their behalf to have a moment with Fantasy.

She put her hands on Fantasy's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, feeling her heart skip for a moment. Even after all this time, Fantasy's dark blue eyes that were kind, yet sometimes hard to read still sent shivers down Bubbly's spine. Fantasy's hauntingly pretty eyes only held a look of question in them as Bubbly attempted to collect her thoughts.

"I can see you're feeling annoyed with the outcome of this battle, but I think you need to be reminded, it's not over yet! And there's nobody else who we can rely on but ourselves." Bubbly pointed out," And...I know you're scared to lose the home you never got the chance to explore, you have every right to be...but, as cheesy as it sounds, this is our only chance. I'm not sure if you've realized it, but you've probably become the most in tune with your magic out of the entire team. You've really come a long way, I don't think there's any other Cure I would want to fight alongside right now and I'm not just saying that because you're the Cure I feel closest to on the team."

Fantasy stared at her blankly for a few moments and then offered her a warm smile as she thought to herself, _" I genuinely thought I wouldn't be able to become a Pretty Cure for a number of reasons. Then when I got the chance to become one, I had to understand that this wasn't some kind of dream...that I was going to hurt in some way or another for the sake of others. I had been hesitant, all I wanted was to be like my hero but now...I don't want that anymore. I want to be everyone's hero and most importantly…" "_

Fantasy looked up and saw a group of Defectives charging towards her and Bubbly, while River was in the clutch of a Defective.

Fantasy then stepped forward and shouted out," Pretty Cure, Playground of Pretenders!"

"...I'd rather be my own hero." Fantasy said quietly as a white haze with rainbows dots appeared around the Defectives. The Defectives started falling asleep, one by one once they came in contact with the haze. Bubbly looked at the Defectives dropping around her, a confused look on her face as she turned to Fantasy.

"Now's our chance!" Fantasy yelled to Bubbly, who quickly nodded in response. The two of them conjured up their scepters.

"Pretty Cure, Brilliant Bubbling Carnival!" Bubbly shouted.

"Pretty Cure, Fantastic Daydream Jubilee!" Fantasy shouted.

The Defectives were each purified and restored to their original forms. All that was left was a hoard of plush toys and a group of unconscious knights around them.

"How did you do that? You know, making all those Defectives fall asleep?" Bubbly questioned curiously.

"I...I just wanted them to be at peace." Fantasy explained awkwardly as she stared at the plushes around her," I wished to calm their spirits, and only put them at ease."

Bubbly's eyes widened before she took one last spin around to look at all the Defectives that had been put to rest.

"You just wanted to see them at peace and then you...you manifested it within seconds!" Bubbly remarked as she gestured to the group of sleeping Defectives to further punctuate her sentence," Fantasy, you don't really give yourself enough credit."

"Neither do you." Fantasy pointed out with a giggle as she took hold of Bubbly's hands," There have been so many times where your energy has kept this team sane. If it wasn't for you just now, I probably wouldn't have calmed down in order to perform that attack. Actually, I think we had been feeling down about others because we were comparing ourselves to our powerhouse teammates. But, we didn't need to do that, we've always been just as strong as them!"

Bubbly nodded and grinned but then she remembered their job here wasn't done quite yet.

"We have to go find Rubix again!" Bubbly reminded her as she urged Fantasy to start searching beyond the castle grounds.

River then held his hand up in protest and looked around the field thoughtfully as he said," The air has been feeling less...tense. I don't think that woman is still here."

"You mean like, not in the kingdom?" Bubbly asked with River nodding in response," So if she's not in the kingdom anymore…"

"...She probably went back to Asperity." Fantasy concluded her tone grim as she turned to River," We gotta regroup with the others. Uncle, uh I mean Knight River, it'd be greatly appreciated if you'd be able to join us. Not only do we have to get through Rubix and Lilith, but we have to rescue Princess Arabella and the current owners of the King and Mage's Patchwork Heart. We can't hope to get all of that done with just the four of us."

"Of course, I'll do everything I can to help." River responded with a nod as he gestured to the girls to follow him," The only entrance that's still open to the other worlds is in the castle."

Teddy was in the grasp of four of the claws, writhing in their grip as they pulled her in opposite directions. The alarms had gotten even louder as the coloured lights glowed much brighter, it would've been easier to just lay there without any objections while the madness ensued. There was a near hopeless look in Teddy's eyes but she wasn't ready to give up just yet. Instead, she slowly tried to break free from the claws by keeping a pair of flaming spheres inside her hands. She wasn't sure how long she'd be able to keep them there but, at this point it no longer mattered to her what happened if she kept them in hand for too long. She was starting to sweat a bit but she wasn't paying much attention to her own physical condition but rather how the claws were holding up against her flame holding hands. The claws were heating up with her, but not as quickly as she had been hoping. Teddy looked frustrated, but she didn't act out of impatience. Instead, she tried to kick things up a notch by increasing the size of the flames in her hands, making it so big that it was no longer easy to hold comfortably. She hung her head upside down for a moment and stared at the masterboard for a while, examining it carefully. As she waited for the claws to heat up more with her, she started to look at the screen and noticed something off. She squinted at it before she felt a searing pain emerge from out of her palms after holding onto the flames for so long. It was now or never.

Teddy let go of the flames in her hands and the arms of the claws caught fire and let her go. Once the claws that held onto her arms let go, she swung and grabbed onto the claws that held her legs, hoping that her hands would be enough to burn them up without the flames.

They didn't catch fire like the other claws but the heat that came from her palms was enough to deactivate them for just a moment to let her go. Once she was let go of completely she ran as fast as she possibly could to the masterboard again. Her lungs were burning and she wasn't even halfway there yet. But she had to reach it once more and she had to deactivate it this time.

Teddy took a moment to stop running and turned around to see all of the claws in the room zooming towards her.

She hadn't been planning on using up her strengths in a place like this, but at this point, she didn't have much of a choice.

"Pretty Cure, flame of hope!" Teddy shouted as she held her hand out in front of the claws before her. A whole set of flames emerged out from her hands, more than she had been used to. She thought nothing of it and watched as all the claws got caught up in her flames. Most of them were functioning, much to her dismay, but she didn't let it bother her too much and only ran towards the masterboard again.

Once she reached the masterboard again, she heaved in her breaths and got back to work. Her brows furrowed as she looked at the screen before she set her gaze on the board in front of her.

"The domino was spinning around the other way when I was in the claws' hold. And some of the buttons are pushed down...there's some correlation here, but I can't seem to get it." Teddy said to herself quietly," Agh, no! I don't have the time to be thinking like this, I gotta think like Cure Dolly if I wanna solve this."

So Teddy looked down at the masterboard again and cautiously pressed a button to see if anything would happen. She turned around to see if anything changed but found pressing the button had no effect on the battle.

"Well, that was useless." Teddy surmised, before she shook her head," No...maybe I'm missing something. At a time like this, I shouldn't really be so quick to judge. I need to look closer."

Teddy pressed the button again and something caught her eye on the masterboard. When she pushed the button down, the opposite of it in the row it raised up ever so slightly. Teddy's eyes widened at the discovery and pressed it again just to confirm what happened. The button opposite to it raised up again. It may have been a deficiency found only in that button so just to make sure, Teddy pushed another button with the button's row opposite raising up too. Only now, Teddy just noticed there had already been some buttons on the board that were pushed down. Her breathing quickened and then she looked at the screen again. The domino was spinning around the other way. She turned to see how close to claws were to her and she saw them only inches away from here with their claws ready to grip her.

"I guess when the domino is spinning the other way, that means they're ready to grab or already grabbing something." Teddy evaluated before she turned back to the masterboard and pressed all the buttons that were slightly raised. Once all the buttons were pressed, the claws powered down and the room fell quiet. The alarms shut off and the lights stopped flashing, with only a deep blue light in its place. Teddy looked around the room cautiously and walked over to the back of the master board, where she found a broad cord that connected the screen and the board to the wall.

Teddy decided to burn up the cord, just so the masterboard and screen couldn't power on again. Teddy had to brace herself against the masterboard momentarily, exhausted from the fight and just looked to the screen worriedly.

"I hope he's ok…" Teddy said to herself as she looked at the screen that turned black once she pressed all the keys.

Domino was freed from his bindings, but the fight had also exhausted him too. His head was killing him and he couldn't even move an inch, but he was still able to see Teddy on the other side of the screen, despite the fact that she destroyed the cord that connected the two rooms. Now, he couldn't do anything but see what was happening inside the room Teddy vacated.

Teddy turned around and saw the door had yet to be unlocked and only sighed at the sight of it. Assuming she'd have to burn this down too, Teddy walked over towards the door but then suddenly, Teddy was held up by a dark violet miasma that circled around her body and clutched her tight.

"Wow, I would've never thought anyone except your leader would've been able to deactivate Domino. I guess that either makes you smarter than I thought or Domino more useless than I expected. You truly are a force to be reckoned with." A genderless voice, cloying but ultimately quite sinister said to Teddy.

"Hey, I don't know if you realized this but Domino didn't want any part in your dumb schemes! Did you not notice him helping us try to take you down? " Teddy pointed out irritatedly as she struggled to break free from the clutch of the miasma," He may have been doing bad things but ultimately...he wasn't a bad person, not if he at least tried to fix his mistakes. Of course, he wouldn't have had to fix those mistakes in the first place if you didn't use him!"

Domino watched Teddy fight in the hands of the miasma and looked down at the smaller version of the masterboard before him. He shook his head, knowing that connection to the two rooms had been broken but he hadn't lost hope just yet. He looked at the broad cord in the other room and found Teddy hadn't fully burned it, so there was a slight chance there was still a connection between the rooms, albeit not a strong one.

"She saved me, it's only fair I do the same." Domino said to himself as he pressed three buttons on the left side of the keyboard and one button in the far right.

The sprinklers in the room suddenly came on and the miasma had a hard time keeping hold of Teddy. Next, the tiles on the floor opened up again and tried to suck up the miasma. It was strong enough to catch the miasma, but not Teddy, so once the miasma was separated from her, she simply fell on the ground. The miasma fought to grab a hold of Teddy again, but it failed to do so and once the miasma was fully caught by the tile opening, the tile closed up and Teddy was once again alone in the lifeless room.

Moments later, the door to the room was unlocked.

Teddy looked towards the screen, it was still black but she didn't seem to care as she said with a thumbs-up," Thanks man!"

"Pretty Cure, pretend mode!" Dolly called out, the polaroid photo still in her hand. She closed her eyes and had her mind cleared, with nothing but the image of the girl in the photo in it.

Standing between Dolly and Jack was Takara, looking distressed at Jack's new form. The Takara illusion walked closer to Jack and further inspected him, still in sheer disbelief of the being before her that bore a slight resemblance to her partner.

"Jack, what happened?" 'Takara' asked quietly as she shook her head and held his paw up to her face, heedless of the danger that could've come her way," I know you said you needed to return to your broken home for a bit, but...please, this isn't really you. I want my Jack back."

Jack knelt next to Takara with a guilty look on his face, but then the voice from earlier appeared in his head again.

" _Idiot, this isn't the girl you ran off to. She couldn't reach this place and besides, even if she could, there's no way she'd be chasing after someone like you."_ The voice reminded him, only enraging Jack who drew his hand back from the Takara illusion and returned to his battle with Dolly.

"Damn it!" Dolly yell-whispered, her pupils shrinking as Jack darted towards her with his claws out.

But the Takara illusion wasn't done with Jack just yet.

"Jack please! I don't want to see you hurt anybody, that girl hasn't done anything wrong!" The Takara illusioned claimed as she ran after him. Jack spun around and hesitated again, but the voice wouldn't let Takara's words reach him. The voice knew Takara's words would overpower them if they weren't careful, so they finally snapped and took full control of Jack's body.

Jack lunged towards Takara slashed the illusion from her torso, causing it to fully disappear. Dolly couldn't believe her eyes, overwhelmed by a feeling of shock and anger as she looked at the empty spot where the Takara illusion once stood.

She balled her fists and her heartbeat got quicker as she chided herself for thinking of such an inadequate plan. She had no other choice left but to fight, but instead of fighting, she stood petrified in the corner, her gaze fixed on Jack as she tried to get herself to move.

It wasn't going to happen, she couldn't bring herself to run away, it was as if her nervous system had completely shut down on her. Instead, she shrunk down in the corner, frightfully holding her hands above her head as she pressed her eyes shut.

She choked out, "Please don't do this, Jack!"

Just when Jack was going to strike her, he froze up. When he looked at Dolly, he only saw Takara in her place and started shaking uncontrollably. He fell silent, and only watched her with regret filled in his eyes. Jack dropped to his knees and sat down, holding his head in disbelief of his actions.

Dolly, on the other hand, was feeling regret in her own actions and slowly stood up. She took deep breaths to calm herself down and briskly walked over to Jack.

"I shouldn't have been so afraid. I knew this person wasn't my enemy." Dolly said to herself quietly as she walked over to him,"Jack, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I displayed an image you probably didn't want to see, I only wanted to reach you under all of that brainwashing from Lilith or Nixe or...whoever's running this place. You're aware you've been manipulated into this form and forced to work under Asperity once again. I can change you back, but I'm gonna need your trust. You trust me, right?"

Jack nodded and stared at the ground, a shameful look on his face.

Dolly conjured up her scepter as she called out,

"Pretty Cure, Dressing Dolly Parade!" She yelled out as the atmosphere around her turned pink, violet and white. The bright lights obscured Dolly's vision for a few moments but once they disappeared, Jack could be found in his regular form. He was still staring at the ground, uncharacteristically quiet as he tried to collect his thoughts while he hugged his knees. He couldn't bear to face Dolly, not after what he had done. Jack hung his head and stayed quiet while Dolly came closer.

"Nixe took advantage of me by making use of the insecurities in my relationship." Jack said to himself," I was so stupid to fall victim to them yet again."

"It's fine!" Dolly reassured him as she knelt down in front of him," What matters was that even if you let Nixe get to you, you still didn't let them take control. You're much stronger than you think for staying true to yourself."

Jack nodded, though he seemed weary and nervously tried standing up but he was far too drained to so.

"Just stay put for now." Dolly advised him," When you feel better, come find us and we'll figure out how you can help. Alright?"

"Sure but...first, I gotta make sure Domino's ok." Jack pointed out to her.

"Of course! In the meantime, I'm going to go find the rest of the team, ok?" Dolly said as she stood up," I'll see you soon!"

Dolly then ran out of the room and back into the hallway. Once she was out of earshot, Jack had a grim look on his face as he looked down at his palms, where the center of it was a very dark colour that resembled a bruise but it hurt much worse.

"No...I won't let Nixe take control of me like that again." Jack said to himself as he squeezed his hand into a fist," And I won't let them destroy this family."


	39. Corrupt Kingdom

Dolly ran as fast as her legs could take her, hoping that she'd find someone, anyone from her team after finishing her battle with Jack. She did feel a bit guilty for leaving him by himself, especially in the state he was in. But regardless, Jack had proven himself to be capable enough to maneuver through Asperity without raising suspicions, so hopefully he'd find a way to sneak past Lilith in the case he ran into her.

Dolly kept running but the hallway seemed to be endless. She looked up to the ceiling and wondered if there was another way to enter the main floor.

"I can't be wasting time running through this hallway! I gotta find the rest of my team." Dolly said to herself as she looked at her palms for a few moments, but then shook her head," I shouldn't be wasting my energy like this, but…"

Dolly looked both ways, unable to see anything because of how dark it was. Just then, the ceiling above her began to crumble away like the lab and pieces of the ceiling were falling from above. Dolly clung to the walls and braced for cover, but the ceiling didn't deteriorate as quickly as the lab did.

Dolly studied the ceiling closely and a thought came to her.

"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" She asked herself.

When Teddy escaped from the domino room, she was at first determined to regroup with her teammates, but after so much walking around in the labyrinth better known as Asperity, her pace was slower though she became a lot more impatient.

"Have I been walking in circles or something? This is insane, there's no way I'll find everyone else at this rate." Teddy said to herself as she continued to walk around. Teddy was sure she had walked down this path before until something on the floor a few feet ahead of her caught her eye. She walked up towards it and in front of her was a glassy tile that showed a room beneath her. The room had a giant encasement of Everlight with a boy trapped inside it. When Teddy took a closer look, she felt her heart skip from being overwhelmed from the amount of magic she could feel within the room.

"There's only one person there though...could that be the owner of the mage's Patchwork Heart?" Teddy asked as she sat down in front of the glass tile," And that thing he's trapped in...it looks like the Everlight stuff that was found in the shards."

Teddy then stood up and smashed the glass open with her heel.

"If I can't find the rest of the team, might as well do something useful." Teddy said to herself as she hopped through the opening and into the room.

She landed in front of the encasement and once she appeared before the boy who she failed to recognize as Hayase. He was startled initially but seemed a bit skeptical after taking a good look at her. Teddy took a closer look too and noticed that his face looked awfully familiar but the one thing that she couldn't help but think was how he looked like a certain former Pretty Cure.

"I may have only seen drawings of her, but...you look like Cure Cheer." Teddy remarked as she tilted her head slightly," Are you two related or something?"

Hayase looked hesitant to respond, taking his gaze away from Teddy as he eventually answered with," She's my step-sister. I never knew her in person, she passed before I was born."

"Wow, so you're stacked for good genes." Teddy commented as she stretched her arms," But, it appears you're a bit stuck, might I be of assistance?"

Bubbly and Fantasy were running through the halls of Asperity alongside River who had the fairies on his shoulders. They just came back from the kingdom and were surprised to find Asperity in worse condition than when they left. It was hard to run through the main level without worrying if the ground beneath was going to collapse under your weight. But, the group was more focussed on finding either the rest of their team or Princess Arabella.

River stepped on a piece of the ground that was ready to disintegrate and nearly fell into the lower level, but Bubbly was quick and created a bubble to catch him. The bubble lifted him up a few feet and placed him right in front of the girls before it popped.

"I'm really sorry about the trouble I'm causing you two, I've been slowing us down." River said as he looked around," I don't think I expected Asperity to be in such shambles, especially when they've had the upper hand."

"Don't be sorry! We really need your help right now, so we don't mind at all." Bubbly said with a chuckle.

"He does have a point though, this place looks like it's caving in on itself. Is Asperity in any shape to try claiming victory?" Fantasy asked as she noticed the walls a few feet behind them were starting to crumble.

"I think Asperity is crumbling away _because_ of them being so close to victory." Rani pointed out," It would appear they've reached a point where their hideout can't contain all this magic without Lilith to stabilize it."

"Wait, Lilith isn't here?" River asked as they continued to run.

"Does it feel like she is?" Nova asked, causing the three of them to stop and figure out for themselves.

Nova was right, despite the fact that they were at Asperity, it somehow didn't feel as if they were. Something, or rather someone, was missing. Because of all the chaos ensuing around them, they had yet to even notice until now.

"So...Lilith is missing in action?" Fantasy questioned as she looked past the hallway," But where would she be at a time like this?"

Lilith led Sterling into a room, similar to the conference room she had set up in Asperity but it was a bit brighter in here. It felt much more warm and Lilith hoped it would make Sterling feel a bit more welcomed but he only seemed weary as he took a seat opposite to Lilith at the table.

"What am I going to say will make Nixe only hate me more." Lilith declared, her voice oddly calm as she laced her fingers and placed them beneath her chin," I've missed you Sterling."

"You know I shouldn't forgive you for what you've done." Sterling pointed out to her," Your actions have given no other choice but to stand by my kingdom. What are we doing here anyways?"

"Didn't I say we needed to talk in private?" Lilith reminded him flatly.

"I didn't think we were going to talk…" Sterling retorted as he looked around the room. Was this supposed the hideout of Asperity? Or perhaps it was something close to it, since the real Asperity must've been more lively right now with the Pretty Cure around.

"Don't you think there's something wrong with your kingdom, with the Well of Wonder?" Lilith asked Sterling, who only kept quiet as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Remember when you hated this kingdom?" Lilith questioned softly.

Sterling shook his head and flatly answered," It wasn't the kingdom I hated, I hated being royalty."

" _I'm trapped. Hopelessly and undeniably trapped. I can't roam this land freely, I don't get to explore and to make matters worse, I won't even get to be a king one day."_ A young boy with dark brown hair thought to himself as he looked out the window of his bedroom. He walked towards his bed and crashed onto it, thinking it'd be much better if he didn't look at the world outside his window that he'd probably never get the chance to journey through.

"What a sad excuse for a life." He said to himself, his eyes glazed as he kept looking at the ceiling," The only person who might stand a chance to understand is…"

"Sterling! Let's play knights again!" A boy who appeared to be a year or two older than Sterling exclaimed as he popped his head into the doorway. He has wavy light turquoise hair and a bright smile on his face as his eyes met Sterling's.

Sterling narrowed his eyes at the boy, who may've been older but certainly didn't act like it at times. Ok well...maybe it wasn't that he wasn't acting his age but rather...Sterling's gloominess made him appear wise beyond years. But still, playing knights at thirteen years old wasn't really something that interested Sterling.

"Theo, didn't we play yesterday?" Sterling reminded him with a sigh. He knew it was unlikely that Theo would listen to reason, as despite being the older brother, he was a child at heart.

Sterling agreed to sword fight and so, about twenty minutes later, the two of them could be found in the castle's courtyard wielding a pair of foam toy swords. Sterling was stronger but Theo was quick on his feet, so that usually secured him his win. Only today, Theo seemed off his game and Sterling was able to knock him off his feet with ease. Theo crashed onto the ground and started coughing.

"You wanted to sword fight when you hadn't even gotten over your cold yet?" Sterling questioned as he knelt next to Theo to help him up.

"No better medicine than exercise!" Theo claimed between coughs.

"Theo? Theo!" A high-pitched voice called out from inside the castle. Out came a light green and yellow mouse with a quilted pattern on its body that rushed towards Theo as soon as he found him.

"My goodness my prince! How many times do you need to be told to stay in bed today?" The mouse asked, glaring at Theo who placed him in his hands. Theo looked at him sheepishly and started laughing.

"But Rudy, what else am I supposed to do?" Theo questioned as he clenched and unclenched his free hand, causing the mouse to float up into the air," You tell me no practicing my magic when I'm sick and then you say I can't swordfight? What's left for me to do?"

Theo had Rudy floating upside down and spun him around, which only made him even angrier than before.

"There's plenty of other things you can do, now will you stop spinning me around?!" Rudy demanded, while Theo and Sterling laughed at him.

Just then, a knight walked into the courtyard to greet Sterling and Theo.

"Your father wants to take you two out to the Elderberry Garden. We'll be leaving soon." The knight said to them. The two princes exchanged excited looks, but Theo remembered he wasn't in any condition to leave the castle grounds.

"I'll just have to go with you guys next time, ok?" Theo declared with a forced smile. Sterling nodded and the knight escorted Sterling out of the castle.

It wasn't often that the boys were allowed to leave the castle, except when they had to go to school or had special events where their attendance was mandatory.

Sterling was led to a carriage where his father was waiting for him inside. Sterling rigidly took a seat across from him and the carriage started moving once the knight got inside, taking a seat next to the king.

The king looked at his son with a pained smile, watching him look at the scenery around him quietly. He had overheard the boys were acting out a bit more than usual, must've been the summer heat getting to them. But, even though Sterling was given the chance to wander past the castle grounds today, he still held that unreadable, listless look in his eyes.

Sterling was never much of an optimist, nor did he speak all that much. Some thought he was only shy, but the king knew he was probably just uninterested in small talk.

The carriage ride went on for another half-hour, but then, they came to an unexpected stop. The three of them exited the carriage and found that the horse had become too scared to move an inch. The driver jumped off of his seat to take a better look at the horse.

"Is she ok?" Sterling asked the driver took a look at the horse.

"I can't tell, but something must've spooked her on the way." The driver explained," I can calm her down, just give me a few minutes."

The king nodded and failed to notice Sterling was already straying away from the group once he took a look around.

"Could it be because we took a different route than usual?" The knight asked the driver.

"Maybe...but we've been here before. Perhaps she's sensing something in the air." The driver suggested as he ran his hand through the horse's mane.

Sterling walked a bit more in the open field, surprised to see that it had been mostly empty. Nobody was around, just a wide field filled with flowers that brought Sterling a sense of calm as he searched around. He started to hear the sound of kids playing around faintly in the distance and he saw on his left a trio of children by a tree. Two of them were sword fighting and the only girl amongst them was watching while sitting on a tree branch.

Sterling didn't care to focus on the boys, since their form was inadequate to him. The girl was quite pretty though, her violet hair long and secured with a bow. Though she was watching the fight, she didn't seem very interested in it. Maybe she had watched these two fight one too many times and already knew who'd emerge victorious or she too was aware that their form wasn't quite right.

" _She's bored."_ Sterling thought to himself as he watched the girl watch the sword fight. Sterling then had an idea and rose from his hiding spot, approaching the group. The smaller boy had just knocked the older one off his balance and left him on the ground. The older boy probably would've been able to strike him back twice as hard if his movements weren't so rigid.

Sterling got closer, but the group had yet to notice him, so he cleared his throat to get their attention. The three of them all looked towards Sterling, each with a very different expression from the other on their face. Sterling couldn't quite bring himself to look at the girl up close, so he gave his attention to the boys.

"Would any of you know where The Elderberry Garden is?" Sterling asked the group.

The smaller boy pointed behind them, not saying a word and awkwardly, Sterling nodded and thanked them, walking where he was directed to.

He did hear the boys squabble amongst each other in the distance and their arguing brought a smile to his face.

"How did you not know that was Prince Sterling?" The older boy chided.

"Well, how am I supposed to know? It's not like I've ever seen him until now." The younger boy claimed in his defence.

"Everyone knows the younger prince Sterling has been blighted with dark hair. It had yet to occur in the royal bloodline until now." The older one explained.

Sterling sighed and shook his head, not the slightest bit surprised by the older boy's explanation. What everyone else saw as misfortune, Sterling was indifferent towards. It would've been nice to blend in, but...he kinda liked how his hair colour made him seem even more out of place in his kingdom than he already was.

Once he realized he was a lot closer to the garden than expected, he looked back to see if the rest of the group had been nearby. The carriage could be seen in the distance, appearing to be running smoothly now. The group was probably going to get mad at him for going on ahead without them, but all Sterling could think about was the girl amongst the trio.

"I'd like to see her again." Sterling thought to himself as he looked towards the Elderberry Garden," I have to come back here, but… I don't know how I'll be able to manage leaving the castle grounds without being noticed."

He turned around to take a look at the three grownups amongst the group and wondered exactly how long it would take for each of them to notice his absence in the castle. Sterling thought about it a bit more and realized it didn't really matter how long it'd take, since him and his brother were bound to get caught, being the most protected ones in the castle.

"If I really do want to see her again, then what am I to do?" Sterling thought to himself as he was led into the Elderberry Garden by his father.

The Elderberry Garden was flourishing with berries and bright colours from all the rare plants and flowers in the garden. Even though everyone else except Sterling had been here quite a few times, the garden never failed to impress. The grownups of the group took their time walking through the garden, admiring all of the different flowers that existed here and couldn't be found anywhere else.

Sterling also thought the garden was nice, but strangely enough, he found himself getting more excited over the more mundane sights in the garden, like the trees that had their leaves changing colour prematurely from green to yellow in the middle of the summer. Sterling looked up at the tree, wondering why its leaves were already beginning to change.

Sterling walked around the tree and found the same girl from earlier, holding onto the tree as she looked up at the leaves. The girl had yet to notice him and when she did, she was a lot calmer than Sterling was when he saw her.

"It's pretty isn't it?" The girl said as she stared up at the tree," This is the only tree here that's leaves have begun to change colour so early."

Sterling nodded and took a step closer to her so he could join her in admiring the tree's leaves. The leaves changing colour of course meant the leaves would fall come soon and the tree would be without any leaves in a few months. It was pretty indeed, but it was also somewhat of a sad sight. Sterling looked over to the girl, wondering if she knew what would happen when the rest of the leaves changed colour.

"Do you think the rest of the trees will change just as quickly as this one?" She asked, finally placing her gaze on him," We should compare to see in a week from now."

Sterling looked at her wide-eyed for a few moments, in disbelief of what he was hearing as the girl stared at him. She had a blank expression on her face, Sterling had to commend her mentally for bold she was, even if she might not have realized it.

Sterling smiled shyly and nodded as he said," A week from now… yeah,I'd like that. "

"Sterling? Where are you?" The king shouted from a few feet away. Sterling sighed as soon as he heard his father calling for him and looked at the girl apologetically.

"I...I have to be on my way." Sterling said to her, his heart sinking as he looked into her eyes, trying his best to tune out the calls from his father," By the way, I didn't get your name."

"I'm Lilith." The girl responded, her gaze still set solely on Sterling. Looking the girl in the eyes was somewhat overwhelming for Sterling, as her grey eyes were so big and her stare was so intense, but it was endearing in a strange sense. Sterling smiled to her once more before he ran off to rejoin the rest of the group.

The king watched as Sterling took in his surroundings as he approached the group, under the impression that his son was beyond impressed by the sights the Elderberry garden had to behold. Once Sterling got closer to the group, the king began to explain why they came to the garden in the first place.

"This garden is very special to the kingdom, but it remains uninhibited by none other than the caretakers for it. Not only is the garden full of all kinds of flowers and wildlife, the garden is where the Well of Wonder resides."

The king led the group further into the garden and past a large group of trees into a clearing where the well of wonder could be found. Sterling felt nothing when he set eyes on the well, but the others could sense the overwhelming amount of magic that came from the well. Sterling glanced towards his father, wondering if he'd get chided for not even trying to sense the magic when he never had the ability to do so in the first place. Theo wouldn't have had any problem sensing all the magic that flowed out from the well, and knowing that made Sterling frustrated at times. Sterling pretended to be interested in the well as his father continued to speak.

"From time to time, we'll come to check up on the well and inspect it to ensure everything is in order." The king said as he led the group closer to the well," This well is a gift from our ancestors, it's sole purpose is to fill the kingdom with magic and bring life to all the kingdom's toys."

"Well, don't you mean only the plushmate toys?" Sterling rectified as he continued to stare at the well. It was such an odd feeling to be looking at something so powerful yet not being able to fully understand or feel its power. It was like meeting a celebrity but having no clue what they were famous for.

"Yes, only the plushmate toys." The king responded," Regardless, it is the king's job to watch over both his kingdom and the well of wonder. As the kingdom of toys, we can't have one without the other."

Sterling said nothing in response, only acting complacent knowing that his father's words didn't have much value to him as he wasn't going to be king. That was Theo's role.

A week had passed since their visit to the garden and now Sterling was growing frantic from having yet figured out exactly how to return so he could see Lilith again. Everything he thought was easy to get foiled, from sneaking out, to trying to barricade his bedroom so nobody could come in. He had a whole week to think of his grand escape and yet, nothing plausible came to mind. He knew if he were to walk, he could get there within an hour, but...to keep his absence unnoticed would've been tricky. Sterling looked down at the castle grounds from his bedroom window, shaking his head knowing his fantasy of spending the afternoon with Lilith was slipping out of reach.

"This won't work, at this rate I'll be stuck here all afternoon." Sterling said to himself in defeat as he pressed his fingertips against the window.

Theo then walked into Sterling's room without notice and caught him staring at the castle grounds outside. Theo had originally been planning to ask Sterling if he wanted to sword fight again since his health had been improving over the last few days. But when he saw Sterling's expression, he grew inquisitive and stepped into the room, walking over to Sterling.

Sterling appeared troubled, and Theo had difficulty recalling the last time Sterling was so...expressive. He offered Sterling a smile of sympathy and took a seat on his bed and asked him,

"What's the matter?"

"I need to get out of here." Sterling blurted out as he finally removed his fingertips from the windows, now facing Theo," I...I met someone at the garden last week. I'm supposed to see them again today."

Theo nodded in response, and zoned out on the ground as he tried thinking of a way to help Sterling. There hadn't been a moment in which he considered talking Sterling out of attending his little meeting. Sterling may've only just met the person, but Theo could tell that the person had to have been important to Sterling if they got him acting out like this.

Plus, Theo felt as if he was the one to blame for the fact that Sterling, along with himself, were always kept indoors.

Theo looked up to him and smiled as he said," Ok, I got something."

The plan was Theo was going to be 'helping Sterling with his studies by tutoring him'. Sterling wasn't feeling confident in his arithmetics and so, he had no other choice but to turn to the person he trusted the most. However, during this time, Theo requested that nobody was to come into Sterling's room as they worked away, claiming that this was to ensure that Theo would have Sterling's undivided attention during these study sessions.

Was it the best plan Theo could've come up with? Most likely not, but considering the amount of time he was allotted, Theo thought his plan was ingenious.

And so, Sterling got to reunite with Lilith, sneaking through the castle grounds and on the route he could remember as clear as day. He never thought his intense examination of his surroundings during the commute to the garden would've actually been of use to him.

When Sterling found Lilith in the exact same place as last week, Lilith looked somewhat surprised as she found Sterling walking towards her. But nonetheless, she was more than happy to see him.

Today hadn't been the last of their meetings, they decided to meet once a week, at the same place in the garden at the same time.

Their meetings lasted for years and the more time that had passed, the better Theo and Sterling had got at keeping these meetings a secret. But...as the years went on and the boys were beginning to be seen as more responsible, they didn't have to put as much effort in sneaking around the castle. But they still had to keep the fact that Sterling was meeting with a commoner top secret.

Sterling would wear clothes that made him blend in with the rest of the civilians in the kingdom, hoping that maybe this would hint at his interest in exploring outside of the garden with Lilith. But, despite the change in wardrobe, Lilith never seemed to have any intent on exploring beyond the garden. Sterling didn't mind, but he only wondered how much of the kingdom Lilith had seen outside of the garden.

"You always lived near the garden, right?" Sterling asked as he and Lilith laid in a flowerbed in the garden.

Lilith nodded, her gaze on the sky above her.

"The garden has always been quiet, not a lot of people visit. Even when people do visit, we typically don't approach them." Lilith explained as she sat upright," Usually, the only people we saw were those from the castle. But...from time to time, we saw others. Others who came to see the well."

"To see the well?" Sterling repeated curiously.

"Once in a while, we'd see well visitors who were good-natured, and wanted nothing more than to give thanks for the well and all it's done for the kingdom. But usually, the well visitors weren't very nice. They would come only to try and take some of the well's magic for themselves but...the well wouldn't let them."

"So what would the well do in retaliation?" Sterling questioned.

"I don't exactly know." Lilith answered as picked out a flower from the field," They'd disappear as soon as they tried to steal the well's magic, but I'm not fully sure what became of them,"

Sterling felt a shiver crawl down his spine as he thought about the ill-willed visitors, commenting," Scary."

"Hey, one day….would it be possible for me to meet your older brother?" Lilith asked, " He sounds like a very nice person, and I'm very grateful to him."

Sterling smiled in response and said," Of course, he really wants to meet you too."

When Sterling got home that day, he was in good spirits from getting to be with Lilith, but as soon as he stepped into the castle, he noticed everyone appeared to be feeling the opposite. He tried to determine what could've been bothering everyone and a thought came to mind that made him sick to his stomach.

He ran through the halls and found Theo in his bedroom, accompanied by a nurse at his bedside. Sterling didn't like the sight of it and walked into the room to see what exactly was going on.

"Why the long face?" Theo asked as he forced a chuckle," It's not like I'm on my deathbed."

Sterling put his hand on Theo's shoulder gingerly and replied," Please don't make jokes like that."

"But I'm fine! Just give me a couple of days and I'll be back to normal." Theo reassured with a cough but not even he sounded certain of his own words.

Sterling nodded slowly and eventually said," You better keep your word."

Theo's health only declined, but he never let himself be seen without a smile on his face during this time. Sterling was frequently seen with Theo during this time, scared of leaving his side and not being able to see him again.

Theo and Sterling were standing on the balcony in the castle, where Sterling was hesitant to make a request that he had been putting off for a while now.

"You know, Lilith has been wanting to meet you for a while." Sterling declared nervously.

"Ah, funny. I've been wanting to meet her too." Theo remarked with a chuckle, watching as leaves started to fall from the trees outside.

Weeks later, Theo had passed and once Theo was no longer in the castle, Sterling wasn't at home as often. He was nervous of what fate awaited him now that the future king had passed. He was in denial, insistent that no matter what happened, he would still be able to be with Lilith. He made use of this time by seeing Lilith more often, doing things aside from ambling through the garden. He insisted on taking her around the outskirts of town where it definitely wasn't as quiet as the garden, but certainly not so busy that Lilith would get overwhelmed. Sterling hoped the change of scenery wouldn't be too much for Lilith, he wasn't trying to pressure her into sightseeing at all. He only wanted to make the most of the time he had before anything prevented him from doing as he pleased.

Spending more time with Lilith was his own way of trying to delay the inevitable, shoving away the worry of getting forced into a role he had lost interest in years ago. But, even Lilith was aware of Sterling's inner turmoil, though she hadn't said a thing. Lilith didn't think the idea of him being king wasn't so bad though, but she feared there may have been some hidden reason as to why Sterling didn't want to be king. So, Lilith only played along, pretending that she hadn't noticed how distraught Sterling had been.

There were only months until Sterling's twentieth birthday and knowing that made him grow awfully anxious.

One day when Sterling came home from an outing with Lilith, everyone in the castle was waiting for him in the throne room. Sterling knew that the rooms absent of people were a bad sign. As soon as he stepped inside, he planned to run out of the castle, but there was a knight with blue and green hair that approached him as soon as he stepped in. Sterling groaned, the newest and most diligent knight, Knight River wouldn't dare let him skip whatever meeting was happening.

"Ah, Prince Sterling! The members of the castle have been waiting for you! We have a guest they'd like you to meet." Knight River declared as he led the way.

River's words made Sterling's stomach tie itself up into knots, he didn't want to move at all. But River was oblivious to how Sterling was feeling and only urged him to continue on.

When the two of them reached the throne room, the members of the castle were circled around a girl with pale pink hair with a large smile on her face, speaking to the group around her. She had this glow to her and she seemed to feel no discomfort whatsoever with all these people surrounding her. Sterling found her scary for this very reason.

"Sterling, this is Imogen." The king introduced as he put his hands on Imogen's shoulders," She comes from a very noble family, and she's been very excited to meet you."

Sterling narrowed his eyes on her, certain he had seen her somewhere before but his train of thought crashed as Imogen approached him, taking hold of both his hands.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you Prince Sterling!" Imogen greeted, that giant smile refusing to leave her face.

Sterling drew a blank and couldn't string together a proper response. He gingerly drew his hands back and only nodded in response rigidly.

"Don't mind him. Sterling's just a tad...shy." The king assured her, glaring daggers at Sterling, who rolled his eyes at his father.

Sterling knew exactly why he was being introduced to Imogen, and he didn't have any interest in getting to know her better as she was only to be a potential suitor. Maybe Imogen did seem pleasant to the others, and her personality would've made her a good candidate as queen, but regardless, Sterling didn't care much for her.

The king then smiled to Imogen, tapping her on her shoulder as he said, "Sterling and I need to step out for a moment to discuss some...confidential matters. We'll return in a few moments."

The king led Sterling out of the throne room, clasping onto Sterling's wrist and held it tight as if Sterling was a child.

The two of them walked to the other end of the hall, where they were out of earshot of the room. Once they were in private, the smile on the king's face disappeared in an instant as his eyes met Sterling's. Sterling wasn't at all affected by the change in behaviour from his father and was about to defend himself, but the king was quick to reprimand him.

"What do you think you're doing, treating Imogen like that? You're supposed to make her like you." The king snapped, his voice lowered to a whisper.

It was impressive that it only took a matter of seconds for the king to detect the distaste Sterling had for Imogen, perhaps it was a skill he developed after years of closely watching over his aloof son.

"Yeah but I don't like her." Sterling pointed out flatly, his eyes narrowed, " She's frightening. I don't really think we'd be a good match."

"It doesn't matter whether or not you think you'd be well-matched for each other. Regardless, marriage is a commitment more than anything." The king explained after he took a deep breath," When you finally understand that, you won't see Imogen as a nuisance. You need to think of the kingdom's future, _your_ kingdom's future."

Sterling fell quiet and the king gestured towards the throne room. Sterling followed him to the throne room, thinking more about his words and feeling a sense of guilt come over him.

Later in the evening, Sterling was in his room, looking longingly towards the window. He walked closer to the window and let his fingertips touch the glass as he thought about today's events. He had a feeling if Theo was alive, him and Imogen would've made a good couple. But now he was stuck with the future that had been paved out for Theo, a path he lost the interest of following years ago.

A thought then struck Sterling's mind and he smiled. He pictured himself and Lilith escaping from the kingdom, running off to somewhere vast and mysterious like earth to begin anew and without the pressures that came with being a future king. If such a fantasy could become a reality, then Sterling would've undoubtedly been happier, even if that meant he had to desert his home and kingdom. His freedom meant more to him anyways.

But...if he were to abandon the kingdom, that would mean the kingdom would be without a new king. The thought of it didn't bother him until he thought about it more, and the sensation of guilt came over him again.

Asking about Lilith to become queen would've been out of the question. They wouldn't have accepted a commoner, much less one who lived willingly in exclusion from society to acquire the role of queen. It hadn't happened in the past millennium and it wouldn't happen now. Not even Sterling could envision Lilith accepting the role of queen.

"It wouldn't hurt to ask." Sterling thought to himself as he walked over to his bed.

From outside Sterling's room, Knight River could be seen looking as if he was ready to knock, but decided against it and instead leaned against the door to the room.

"I know I should confront Sterling on the matter, but am I in any place to do so?" River asked himself quietly. River looked down to the ground, thinking about the incident he saw a few days ago. He discovered Sterling, in disguise with civilian clothes and a mysterious girl near the Elderberry garden. He tried telling himself that it couldn't have been Sterling, but… there was no one else in the kingdom with hair as dark as his.

"Miss Imogen is very sweet, but if that really was Sterling at the garden, it would make sense of his behaviour towards her this afternoon." River said to himself," Sterling must be really troubled, having to deliberate between the two of them. I want to help him."

Everyone probably shared the thought of how if Sterling and Imogen were to marry, it would likely be Imogen ruling this kingdom because of her take charge attitude, leaving the timid Sterling to retreat and watch from the sidelines. If anything, it appeared as if they really just wanted Imogen to lead the kingdom rather than Sterling, the actual heir to the throne. River thought about how happy Sterling was in the presence of the mysterious girl from the garden and came to a decision.

"I'm going to prove to the king that Sterling can rule this kingdom and make the right choices as future king!" River declared as he clenched his hand into a fist.

Lilith waited at the Well of Wonder for Sterling, excited to see him after so long. (In truth it may have only been about a week.) She discovered a secluded little hideaway with a small playground but not a single soul could've been found there. It must've been really far from the cities if nobody had come near it. She couldn't wait to show it to Sterling and kept a lookout for him as she sat by the well.

Sterling finally appeared after a little bit, but he seemed much more tense than usual. As soon as he reached the well, Lilith waved to him and was about to hug him but Sterling grabbed a hold of her wrist and pulled her down with him to sit beside the well. Sterling sat low to the ground, as if he was trying to be obscured by the well and continued to wear the tense expression on his face.

"We've been found out." Sterling declared grimly, his gaze not even reaching Lilith. Lilith didn't seem as alarmed as Sterling expected, but she knew Sterling wasn't happy with this, so she placed her hand on his and said,

"Isn't this what we wanted though?"

"Well, yeah but...I...I didn't want it to be like this. Somebody told my dad that they found us and as soon as he heard, he wouldn't let me hear the end of it. He doesn't want me to see someone like you anymore." Sterling explained, shaking his head in disbelief," I don't know what else I can do...I'm running out of options quickly. Not only that, but there's not a lot of time left either. But, whoever ratted me out threw my dad for a loop saying we were in the city. So he didn't think much of it when I said I was going to the garden. I guess this is a blessing in disguise, but it won't last long. Especially since everytime I exit the castle, I have to leave with a pair of guards."

"Guards?" Lilith repeated confusedly before the two of them heard knights calling out for Sterling. Sterling shook his head once more and took a hold of Lilith's hands and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm so sorry you got dragged into this, I don't want you to get in trouble or to get punished because of me. I'm sorry but...we can't be together any longer." Sterling confessed, gripping Lilith's hand tight before he let go," I really don't want to do this, but I don't have any other choice if I want to keep you safe. I'm already in trouble but if we stop seeing each other, they won't be able to catch you. "

"But...I don't care about whether or not they catch me. I'd much prefer to-"

"Sterling! You better not be trying to make an escape!" One of the guards called out.

"Again, I..I'm so sorry for all of this. I really wish things could've been different." Sterling said to her, his gaze falling to the ground," There was nothing I wanted more than to be with you."

Lilith stared at Sterling and felt remorse, running her hand through Sterling's hair before he stood up. She didn't quite understand why he was apologizing to her as she felt in the wrong for what had happened. She knew he was a prince all this time and yet she didn't let that stop her from letting go, not even when Theo passed. But still, the feeling of rejection stung her and she couldn't help but feel uncared for.

Sterling stood a few feet away at the other side of the well, getting lectured by the pair of guards. They were mainly talking about how he wasn't supposed to stray far from them, not when the king had specifically requested for them to keep watch over Sterling. But then one of the knights made a comment that made her outraged.

"Seriously, you should've been using your head. No woman would ever come near you if you weren't a future king. She probably only saw you as means to the throne and nothing more. That's all you have going for you anyways Sterling." One of the knights said to him.

" _This is the person they want as king? Someone they feel no regret in saying such harsh things to?"_ Lilith thought to herself skeptically.

Why was everyone in the castle so mean to Sterling? Lilith was well-aware that the Sterling she knew and the Sterling the castle members knew may as well have been two different people but regardless, that was no way to talk to him, especially since he was to be the next king. Sterling had probably been more distant than usual ever since Theo's passing, but it seems the castle members, at least the knights, had yet to realize that.

Once Sterling and the knights had left the garden, Lilith ran from her hiding spot and to the place she had planned to show Sterling. It was a bit farther than she remembered, but she didn't want to be anywhere else right now.

When she reached the hidden away playground, her lungs felt as if they were burning but she didn't care and heaved in her breaths as she looked at the playground. Still empty, and still pleasing to the eye with its absence of people. Lilith walked around the playground, a very thin layer of mist trailed through it that somehow made her feel calm. But then, Lilith noticed a stream on the far end of the playground. She walked over to the stream and knelt in front of it, clasping her hands over her chest. It was still hurting ever since Sterling parted ways with her, and all she wanted now was to see him again.

"How did things get so out of hand?" Lilith asked her reflection in the stream," All I wanted was to be with Sterling, was that too much to ask for?"

"If there's someone out there, a greater force, please...please fix this mess." Lilith begged as she closed her eyes," Don't let Sterling be forced into a role he doesn't want."

"Do you want the power to change your situation?" A voice then asked her. Lilith was startled when she heard the voice that seemingly came out of nowhere.

"You want to be with the Prince correct? I want to make your wish come true but you must help me in return." The voice said to her.

"If you help us, find some kind of way to keep Sterling from being hurt and being king, then I'll do anything you want." Lilith declared resolutely.

"If you want my help so badly, then all I need is for you to drink the water from the stream and my power is yours." The voice explained to her. Lilith did as told and drank the water from the stream. It was awfully sweet but as soon as she drank it, her vision blurred and she had to hold her hands against her mouth to keep the water from coming back up. It was hard to stomach, and the voice only became louder once she ingested the water. Tears were beginning to form in Lilith's eyes and she shook her head, wondering if she made the right decision.

"You want to keep the Prince from getting hurt, right?" The voice reminded Lilith, who nodded her head vigorously," Then tough it out!"

Lilith obliged and after a few minutes, her stomach settled down and she no longer felt as sick. But, she didn't quite feel like herself either. She felt disgusting warm, as if she just got a fever and her heart was racing. Lilith also didn't feel as if she had any control of herself either. She looked down at her reflection in the stream and noticed her eyes were now two different colours. One was grey as it was supposed to be, the other had turned violet. Lilith smiled as she extended her arm to get a better look at it.

"She's quite little, but I can make this work." Lilith reassured herself.

"I want to help reconstruct this kingdom," Lilith confessed to Sterling," We both know it's been corrupt for so long. There is still so much that needs to be fixed and after all this time, you and Imogen hasn't changed a thing and chose to uphold these backwards traditions and...if you let this go on, your children might just share the same fate we did."

"Lilith, your idea of reconstruction has become demolition, there's no way I can help you out." Sterling responded sternly," You really didn't expect talking things through would work after all this time, did you?"

Lilith narrowed her eyes at Sterling, he wasn't making this very easy.

Teddy banged her head on the surface of the Everlight, feeling light headed as she pressed her forehead against it. It was strangely cool in temperature and relieving since she had been working up quite a sweat to break open the Everlight.

"We're not getting anywhere…" Teddy stated as she heaved in her breaths, before she glanced over to Hayase," And there's nothing you can do like...magically?"

"I...I don't have much control over my powers." He admitted hesitantly while standing," But...maybe in a situation like this, it wouldn't be such a problem…"

"I mean...at this point, what's the worst that could happen, honestly?" Teddy asked him.

Hayase looked at her nervously for a few moments and then exhaled a deep breath, stretching out his arms and tried to concentrate, though he wasn't quite sure how this was going to work.

His hands were shaking as he tried to remain calm, clear his thoughts or whatever in order to make a magic-based attack.

Once he slowed his breathing, he felt a lot less tense and blue sparks were beginning to crackle out from his palms.

" _For your own safety, to keep you out of harm, it would make me and your father so happy if you ignored your powers completely, please."_

Hayase's concentration was broken immediately and all he could make was a single blue spark shoot out from his fingertips. The blue spark did nothing more than travel a few inches and plummet to the ground moments later. The two of them groaned at the same time, in disbelief that this was all he could manage.

"Aren't you the younger sibling to Cure Cheer?" Teddy reminded him impatiently.

"Well yeah, but...I was never allowed to use my magic. My parents didn't want anything bad to happen to me so...they made sure to keep me away from all of this Toy Kingdom anarchy." Hayase explained as he shook his head," I'm hopeless, I can't be of any use if I'm still scared of my own powers."

Teddy narrowed his eyes at him and crossed her arms, asking him," So...you're from Earth? Regardless, you're in danger now and it's not just you, it's everyone in the kingdom, and us and...I understand the whole being scared of your powers thing. But in my case, it was more of a sense of being not good enough. I just needed to get over myself and realize that...just because I'm not where I want to be doesn't mean I'll never get there. You've been curious about your magic, haven't you? But, you've been good to your parents, so you acted like you didn't care about your powers. Right now, I need you to pretend your parents never said those things to you, I need you to pretend that Cure Cheer is here cheering you on to put your powers to use."

Teddy took a step back, eyeing the Everlight encasement as she stated," I don't think I stand a chance to break this thing by myself, but you might."

Hayase looked at her skeptically but he knew she had a good point.

" _I've done it once, even it was by surprise...but that just means I'm fully capable of using these powers. "_ Hayase thought to himself before all the memories from weeks ago of him testing out his magic crossed his mind, _"At the rate we're going...I may never get to see what my powers can do if I'm stuck here and Asperity's taking over the kingdom."_

Hayase looked down at his hands for a moment, that persistent feeling of doubt only getting stronger again. Even if he was literally being pushed into a corner, nothing was going to change his inexperience with his magic. He glanced over towards Teddy who only offered him a reassuring nod in return. He smiled at her, a somewhat defeated look on his face and he walked over to the edge of the Everlight encasement.

"It's not going to happen...I...I couldn't hope to discover the powers I've pushed aside for so long." Hayase stated as he stared at the ground,"You'd be better off rejoining the rest of your team right now."

"Yeah but that'd mean you'd get left behind." Teddy reminded him as she crossed her arms," I'm not really up for hearing some cheesy "go on without me" type of spiel. It'd benefit both of us if we got you out of here."

Teddy sighed quietly, her gaze still on Hayase as she stated," You're still in that mindset, convinced that your powers are a nuisance, that they bring nothing but danger to you. But...surely, they aren't all bad, right?"

Hayase fell quiet for a moment, as memories started to swarm through his mind of when he was a kid and used his powers freely behind his parents back. There was the faintest memory that appeared in his mind, so faint he couldn't really distinguish much. He could only identify sitting in a kitchen with someone he was having a hard time recognizing, the memory must've been from when he was very young.

" _That was amazing! How did you do that?" They asked him as they put their hand on Hayase's head and messed up his hair._

" _Who was that, Toya? It doesn't matter right now, I...I wasn't always like this. I wasn't afraid of the things I couldn't understand and I wanted nothing more than to use my magic to my heart's content. I need to revert back to that version of myself, I need to grasp onto that curiosity from years past. I need to be willing again."_

Teddy pressed her hands against the surface of the Everlight and said to Hayase," Lilith had probably been running out of options since the Well's magic had disappeared. It's likely she intended to use your magic in the place of the well's along with the magic of the king's Patchwork Heart. I'm not gonna let you get used so easily, alright? We're getting out of this place and you're gonna... help my team out with your newfound powers."

Hayase stared at her for a few moments, a confused look on his face before he nodded in agreement. He closed his eyes and concentrated like before, only this time his face seemed more stern and less uncertain. Teddy caught a glimpse of Hayase and smirked, feeling a sense of a strange sense of accomplishment for not giving up on him.

Teddy's hands against the Everlight's surface caused the encasement to soften gradually under the heat of her palms, all that was left for Hayase to break it open from the inside.

Hayase squeezed his hands together as tight as he could, not letting his concentration break for a second. Soon enough, a bright blue aura flowed around him and his hands were glowing.

Teddy took one final look at Hayase and removed her hands from the surface slowly, calling out,

"You got this!"

Hayase separated his hands and in between them was a mass of blue mist with bright silver crescent moons and white stars inside it. Once he laid eyes on the crescent moons and stars, he felt oddly nostalgic for a moment.

"What do I do next?" Hayase questioned nervously as he looked over to Teddy.

"Whatever you need to do to break this thing open!" Teddy responded, giving the Everlight encasement a light kick.

Hayase nodded, and took note of how his hands were getting hot quickly from all the concentrated magic stored up in them. It was less scary now that he was starting to accept his magic, and a look of excitement appeared on his face.

He slowly brought his hands in front of himself and Teddy cleared out of the way to the corner of the room. The excitement bubbling up in Hayase was infectious as even Teddy was watching in anticipation from the edge of the room, not even worrying that the distance she created between the two had been for nothing.

Once Hayase placed his hands in front, a bright blue beam shot out from his hands towards the Everlight. Upon contact with the beam, the Everlight shattered into pieces and Teddy clung to the wall to not get hit with any of the debris. When the single section of Everlight had broken apart, the rest of it shattered, leaving Hayase standing in the ruins of the Everlight, his eyes wide as he took in the current state of his surroundings. He took in his breaths quicker and looked into the palm of his right hand. He shook his head slowly in disbelief as blue sparks began to crackle out again.

"I...I'm…" Hayase trailed off, zoning out on his hands. He had been so sure of the person he had become after all these years. The plain, average boy with good grades who worked his way up to student council president. The one who was always trying to encourage many clubs to pop up, knowing it'd benefit the students to polish up their special skills, while he had to hide his. The same student who had been so diligent and respectable to his parents, acting as if there was nothing more to him, that he was like everyone else on Earth, that he'd never have to share the fate of the sister he had never known if he shoved his own wishes to the back of his mind.

"Cure Cheer was my sister and I'm not gonna disappoint her, I've pretended her death meant nothing to me...so I guess that just makes me even more of a terrible younger brother. But, I don't plan on doing that any longer. I'm Hayase Mitarashi and a descendant of the Laruan Kingdom! " Hayase proclaimed.

Teddy double-blinked and had to give herself a few extra moments to collect herself and her words, being only able to sputter out," Do you mind repeating that?"

"Getting rid of the kingdom's magic?" Sterling repeated in disbelief," Just so we can fill it with the corruptive magic you've been creating?"

"No, just...all of it. It all needs to go." Lilith declared as she waved her hands to punctuate her sentence," The magic in the kingdom, both sides of it, have proven to be forces that tamper with the way of life. Just like how you can't trust Nixe's magic, you shouldn't trust the well."

Sterling looked at her inquistely and only repeated in response," Shouldn't trust the well?"

"You think it supplies the kingdom with magic, but it only wants to use the people of the kingdom to augment the strength of it…tell me, where do you think the Everlight stones really came from? It wants to make people grow stronger just to sap them dry again, only...the Everlight stones have become worse. They aren't just draining people of their magic, it's coming for their lifeforce now. The well will bring the kingdom to ruin." Lilith declared to him.

Sterling had yet to be convinced though, and responded with," An interesting claim, but if you don't have any evidence, if you can't name a single person who's fallen victim to the well, then I can't be of help to you."

Lilith opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it moments after, trying to figure out how to put this delicately. Just then, the two of them noticed the ceiling above the table was crumbling apart and moments later, a scream was heard followed by the collapse of the ceiling but surprisingly not the table beneath it. The two of them were coughing from all the dust and debris that came with the chunk of ceiling and heard a new voice in the room.

"Gimme a break, why does this place have to be so backwards?" A voice that sounded like Cure Dolly said as they struggled to free their lungs of the dust that clustered in it,"First I think I'm breaking open a ceiling, then all of a sudden I'm in a room that does nothing but spin around and breaks beneath my feet moments later."

Cure Dolly could be seen sitting on the table, not even aware of where she was until finally she looked around the room and found Lilith and Sterling.

"King Sterling, what are you doing here?" Dolly asked as she stood up on the table, before her eyes met Lilith. She couldn't bring herself to say a word, all she didn't was get a sense of the magic coming from Lilith and grew uneasy seconds later. Dolly stood up straight and conjured up her scepter, saying,

"Don't worry about a thing King Sterling, I'll settle things with her once and for all!" Dolly declared as she stood in a protective stance in front of Sterling.

"Actually...we were in the middle of a discussion." Sterling said to Dolly as he gestured for her to set foot off of the table," You should probably listen in on this too, as your team has as much involvement in all this."

Dolly nodded rigidly and stepped off from the table stiffly, moving herself towards the wall where she drew a lot less attention to herself. She smiled to Sterling and motioned to allow him to continue.

Sterling smiled back to her, but his expression reverted to that of a serious one moments after.

"So who had been the one to suffer the wrath of the Well of Wonder?"

Rubix just returned to Asperity, sneaking around the organization that had been in worse condition from where she had left it. It honestly wasn't surprising, since if at least herself or Lilith hadn't been here in Asperity, the magic in the organzationation would fail to stabilize, so it'd literally fall apart and crumble away. It hadn't even been long since the two of them left but it seemed the damage done was irreversible. Rubix didn't seem to care though and only continued her search for the Pretty Cure.

"Rubix, my dear, why did you keep me waiting like this?" A voice then boomed in the room, causing Rubix to jump.

"Those Pretty Cure went and got rid of my Defective army! I tried to keep them from coming back to Asperity and hold them off but it wasn't enough." Rubix explained desperately, _" If Nixe knows it was only two of them to defeat the whole army...I may never hear the end of it."_

A grey and violet cloud then formed in front of Rubix, twirling around and grasping her by the waist as a humanoid figure formed at the top of the cloud, the two of them connecting from the figure's back. The figure made the cloud binding tighter around Rubix, and the figure came a bit closer.

"Do you think I wouldn't have known that the Pretty Cure had split in half, leading to only half of their team to defeat your entire army? I'm not actually upset by such a loss, however your doubt in how much I'd known is somewhat concerning." The figure stated as it brushed the fringe from Rubix's right eye," Your eye is my view to the outside world, didn't you ever wonder why it looked like this?"

Rubix drew back uncomfortably, but she was still in the grasp of the figure. The figure then took a grasp of Rubix's right hand and held it tight.

"Of course, if anyone else from Asperity were to screw up like this, I'd probably punish them severely. A whole army plus some corrupted knights to meet their demise by two little girls? Unthinkable. But Rubix, I won't reprimand in such a harsh way. Lilith may have found you, but you're the ace up my sleeve."

The figure brought Rubix closer and proclaimed, "You are much more worthy than Lilith will ever be. She isn't no longer to act as my vessel. She was only fueled by jealousy, a petty human emotion that has no value to me. You're filled with an intense rage that you can't even put into words, nor do you understand the meaning behind. A rage that only burns brighter whenever you see the Pretty Cure and stray from the self you've chosen to forsaken."

Rubix seemed tense at first in the hold of the figure, but she seemed to have calmed down after hearing them out. The figure looked at Rubix's right eye and felt as if they were looking into a mirror and only smiled at her.

"Rubix, I'm quite impressed. You're strong with or without my magic, you put a woman like Lilith to absolute shame. I'll admit, I didn't have much interest in you as an addition to Asperity, but your power has gotten stronger from your Pretty Cure days. I want you to accept all of my magic." The figure said to her.

Rubix's expression was blank, not a word escaped from her lips and she did nothing but nod in response. She held out her hand to the figure and said,

"It would be my pleasure."


	40. Reunion

A deafening scream pierced through the halls of Asperity. Everyone had heard it, but nobody knew who it came from. Lilith however, had a nagging feeling she knew who that scream belonged to and why. Sterling took notice of Lilith's slightly distressed expression and stood up from his seat, deliberating on whether or not he should've left to see what had happened.

"Fine, the person who had been a victim to the well was an underling of mine. Her name is Rubix." Lilith confessed briskly as she also stood up from her seat," That girl was originally a rival to Nixe. Her former name was Cure Cheer."

Dolly's eyes widened with shock, unable to quite process what Lilith had said. She blinked a few times, but still wasn't able to form any kind of response. The blank look in her eye indicated that she was lost in her thoughts, trying desperately to collect them as she repeated the statement over and over.

" _Rubix and Cure Cheer...they're one in the same."_ Dolly said in her head, before shaking it in disagreement as her rational side finally kicked in.

"There's no way. Cure Cheer was killed in your last battle, and even if she had lived through that battle, she would've appeared much older than Rubix." Dolly pointed out," If Rubix really was Cure Cheer, then she looks as if she didn't age since the day of that last battle."

"That's precisely what happened." Lilith responded with a sigh," The well leeched from her magic for years once she had fallen into it. But strangely enough, the well preserved her body, keeping her untouched by time with nobody aware of her presence inside the well."

"The well was able to store Cure Cheer's body for so long?" Dolly questioned as she turned to Sterling who appeared just as confused as her.

"I've never really heard of anyone falling down the well but...there have been many things kept a mystery about it." Sterling explained, his tone uneasy as he pictured Cure Cheer falling into the well.

"Rubix remembers nothing of her past life, she only wishes to serve Nixe but...it appears Nixe has finally chosen to reward Rubix for her loyalty."

"Exactly...how does Nixe plan on doing that?" Dolly asked curiously.

"They'll offer Rubix all of their magic, but even if Rubix is gifted Nixe's magic, she won't be able to use it freely unless Nixe takes back the magic they originally gave to two people in Asperity." Lilith explained to the two," Myself and Danica."

"Who's Danica?" Dolly asked dumb-founded, as Sterling looked at Lilith curiously.

"This is the worst! I haven't seen a single Pretty Cure for hours and I can't even find stupid Rubix." Bounce claimed as she drew out a sigh," If this keeps up, the final battle will come and I'll have had no part in it!"

She heard the ceiling from behind giving in and she sped up a bit, only to hear the sound of the ceiling behind her collapsing onto the ground. Bounce turned around and looked at the ceiling with an unimpressed look on her face.

"Good lord, how am I to even walk around this place without being crushed by debris?" Bounce wondered aloud as she shook her head," This only started to happen when Rubix and mom left for the kingdom. They shouldn't have done that, especially mom"

" _The kingdom hates mom, that much is obvious...but if there's anyone they should direct their hatred towards...it;s the Queen."_ Bounce thought to herself as she took a pause from walking," _She's a selfish woman who waves off the problems of her kingdom, and she despises mom with every fibre of her being. I'm sure if she didn't exist the kingdom would be much happier. If it wasn't for her, maybe mom would've had a chance to prove her point about the well's corruption to the people of the kingdom."_

"What am I thinking, it's not just her! That whole lousy kingdom is corrupt, and beyond saving in my opinion. We've been too lenient on them." Bounce claimed as she folded her arms," Maybe Earth really had been the superior realm."

Bounce stared at the floor for a few moments before continuing on. Lilith had told her that her father was from Earth, but he passed away early on, much too early for her to remember anything about him. Bounce always did feel a bit sorry for herself for never getting the chance to know her dad, but she didn't mind and believed that he would've been proud to see the present day version of herself.

"Ugh, snap out of it! We've been waiting for this day our whole life so there's no way I'm just gonna sit back and wait around for the rest of them to find me." Bounce declared as she started to run through the halls. She found a doorway in the long hall she didn't recognize and looked at it curiously. She looked both ways and decided to open up the door.

On the other side of the door was a room filled with chunks of crystals that looked like Everlight sprouting from the ground. The crystals were ranging from three to six feet in size and some of them looked as if they had been chipped an awful lot. Bounce looked at the crystal chunks thoughtfully, but then she heard the sound of children laughing and grew tense. She could have sworn it came from the of the crystals, so she walked over to one that may have been the same height as her and looked at it closely. In the reflection of the crystal was a group of children playing around in a playground, with some kids running around a fountain with plush toys in their hands. The sight was an eyesore to Bounce, she never did feel all that comfortable around children but a closer look at the fountain and the plush toys had her much more interested in the image on display.

"How is that possible?" Bounce asked as she watched the fountain spew light blue and pink water, while the childrens' toys came to life and played with the kids.

Bounce then heard what sounded like the floor getting ripped open and spun around to see an enormous crystal had emerged in front of the doorway.

Bounce shrugged and lifted up her t-shirt's sleeve while saying," Whatever, the crystals in here may look strong, but guess who's stronger?"

Bubbly, Fantasy, the fairies and River were continuing their search for Princess Arabella, but they were still evidently unnerved by the scream from earlier.

"Are you sure we haven't been running around in circles?" River asked the two of them warily as they continued to run.

"Positive!" Bubbly answered as she skidded to a stop," I'm not sure if you've been noticing, but me and Fantasy have been making rainbow bubbles and sticking them on the halls so we'd know whether or not we've been in these halls.

"But...wouldn't the bubbles pop?" River pointed out.

Fantasy shook her head and responded with," Bubbly's bubbles won't pop unless she pops them herself."

"Even then, it seems almost impossible to find your way in this place." Rani remarked as she eyed the endless halls nervously," I fear we may not have it easy finding the rest of our team."

"We'd be lucky enough to find any other living creature at this point." Nova commented flatly as she watched Bubbly place a bubble on a lamp.

"Hey, Bubbly, Fantasy and Knight dude, over here!" A voice that sounded like Teddy's cried out to them. The three of them saw Teddy and Hayase on the other side of the hallway, though something seemed amiss.

The three of them walked up towards Teddy and Hayase, but it appeared the two of them were standing on the ceiling.

"Hey how'd you guys get on the ceiling?" Teddy asked the group that appeared upside down to her and Hayase.

"We could ask you the same thing!" Fantasy replied as she tilted her head. Bubbly looked towards Fantasy to see if she had any answers to why this was happening but not even she could figure it out.

"I think a reflection of sorts…" Hayase declared as he looked closer at the three of them," None of them have their hair or clothes falling down with them. So clearly, they're also still right side up ."

"...Then we aren't as nearby as we thought." Bubbly commented with a frown before she pressed her head against River's arm," Why is this place so complicated?"

"Complaining won't do us any good Miss Bubbly." River reminded her with a chuckle," But, I'm sure our paths will cross each other again soon. I don't think the rest of this organization can keep holding out like this much longer."

Teddy nodded in agreement then suddenly, the two of them heard a voice calling out in the halls.

"Lillith, Lillith?" The voice called out.

"Princess Arabella?" Knight River called out once he heard the voice calling out.

"You guys can hear that too? Then we really must be closer than we think." Teddy remarked as she continued to listen for the voice,," We're going to head in the direction where the voice came from."

"We will too!" Bubbly declared with a nod," We'll see each other soon, ok?"

The two groups separated once more and ran off in the direction of where the voice was coming from for them.

It didn't take Bubbly, Fantasy, the fairies and River too long to find a room with a glass wall where they could see two people inside. In the room was a tall girl with long blonde hair and a boy lying unconscious lying unconscious in a bed next to her. The girl was pacing around, continuing to call out Lilith's name while shaking the boy on the bed softly every few moments.

"You better not be having that talk without me." She called out before she drew out a sigh.

"It's Princess Arabella!" River exclaimed as he pointed to her," But it appears her absence from the kingdom has...changed her appearance?"

"Haven't we seen that uniform before?" Nova whispered to Bubbly, who nodded in response after a couple of seconds.

"I guess she worked at the Cafe Kiriko took us to a few months back." Bubbly declared, watching Arabella pace around the room as if she had nothing better to do.

The group looked at her curiously, surprised by the act that Arabella had yet to notice the three of them standing on the opposite side of the glass wall. She was pacing around in a more frantic manner, still checking up on Kai every few moments, but she had yet to turn around and see the three at the glass wall.

"That boy...does he have a Patchwork Heart inside him?" Rani asked quietly," Or...did it get taken away?"

River was growing impatient, and decided for the team that they shouldn't have been wasting another second here and began to call out for Arabella.

"Princess Arabella! We've come to rescue you!" He shouted, startling the two Cures and fairies at his side.

Bubbly looked over to Arabella and was amazed to find that they still hadn't got her attention. She wore an incredulous expression, turning to Fantasy to see if she had any answers. Fantasy studied the glass wall carefully, lightly pressing her fingertips against it and wondered if the glass wall was doing more than physically keeping them apart.

"Maybe this wall is like a two-sided mirror...meaning that she can't see us." Fantasy suggested as she pressed her palms against the wall in an attempt to determine what the wall could've been made of.

"But...she hasn't turned this way once since we got here." Bubbly pointed out as she took a close look at Arabella," Don't you think it seems like she's avoiding us?"

"Avoiding us?" River repeated in disbelief, " There would be no way the princess would be so ungrateful to-"

"Lilith! I can't keep waiting forever you know!" Arabella cried out her voice sounding a lot more panicked than before.

The group watched her and figured she really was ignoring them, as she appeared more scared than earlier and refused to turn to face the glass wall during her pacing.

Fantasy then noticed Teddy and Hayase running from the opposite end of the room from the display on the other glass wall. Teddy held Hayase's arm to stop him from running and pressed her face and hands against the wall.

"I think we saw her at the cafe Kiriko took us to…" Teddy pointed out, before her eyes met Arabella's. The moment their gazes met, Arabella immediately pretended she didn't see Teddy and gave her undivided attention to Kai.

"Hey we're here to bust you free! The least you could do is acknowledge us!" Teddy shouted as she banged her fist against the glass wall," Damn it, where's the door?"

Hayase pointed to a door on the edge of the glass wall and Teddy led the way into the room.

Arabella's heart was starting to race as she anxiously clung to the wall next to Kai's bed. Once Teddy stormed into the room, Arabella knew her fate was sealed and pointed to the door at the glass wall where Bubbly, Fantasy and River stood. Once she finally acknowledged their presence, her expression became more somber.

The two teams were united and stood in a half-circle around Arabella and Kai, with River taking a step closer towards Arabella. He knelt down next to her and inspected her to see if she had any injuries, but she seemed to be alright for the most part. The only thing that seemed to have been giving issues was her sense of judgement.

"I'm fine, ok?" Arabella claimed impatiently as she waved her hand to protest," But...Kai won't wake up and I don't know what to do."

The Cures and Hayase took a look at Kai who slept peacefully but Arabella looked worried as she glanced over to him. They had been asleep ever since they got here, ever since Asperity extracted their Patchwork Heart.

"I don't care about what happens to me, please just save Kai!" Arabella begged as she stood up and joined the team at Kai's bedside. She knelt next to them and held one of their hands tight, as she hung her head.

"When I got sent to Earth, Kai appeared and helped me out. Kai had been so kind to me all this time. They showed me how bad I was at everything but they didn't make fun of me. I didn't think I'd enjoy being on Earth as much as I did, but they made it worthwhile." Arabella explained as she let go of Kai's hand," I have to make something clear to you though...I'm not interested in going back to the kingdom."

The girls were surprised but it was River who was more alarmed and clamoured,

"But we've been searching for you all this time, and now you want to abandon your role as future queen?"

"Yeah." Arabella answered flatly, her eyes narrowed at River.

"Well, we were supposed to only find Arabella. The rest of the details are up to her." Teddy stated with a shrug, who only received a glare from River.

"Lilith said she was going to collect me so we can have a talk with my father about the future of the kingdom. She promised me she'd mention abolishing the rule that the eldest must become the heir to the throne, we need to find her!"

"Um, not the main reason we need to find her but...sure whatever floats your boat." Bubbly commented sheepishly as she helped Arabella stand up.

"It's likely Dolly's already encountered her. For all we know, she could be facing Lillith all on her own…" Fantasy said, envisioning a chibi Dolly fighting a fire-breathing Lilith," We should get going."

Dolly tried collecting her thoughts once more, holding her hands out to let Lillith and Sterling give her a moment. Dolly looked over to Lillith, her stomach forming knots as their eyes met. She knew being in the presence of Asperity's leader would've probably led to a feeling of uneasiness coming over her, but she didn't expect to discuss things over with her like this.

"So...you honestly believe that Nixe is going to help you change the kingdom for the greater good, after all they've made you do?" Dolly asked, with Lillith nodding in response.

"Nixe understands my home is corrupt and they're willing to help in order to restore things." Lillith explained patiently, though Sterling and Dolly didn' appear to be convinced.

"Yeah, restore things to when there was _nothing_." Sterling commented flatly," I understand your desire to improve the kingdom but...Nixe won't make such a wish come true."

"Do you think that Nixe has any concern over the members of the kingdom when they've been forcing you to corrupt Patchwork Hearts of the innocent? Nixe has been taking advantage of you, the two of you aren't seeing eye to eye." Dolly explained to Lillith," All Nixe saw was a helpless young girl. You may be set on improving the kingdom, but Nixe has other things in mind."

"I…" Lillith trailed off nervously, thinking back to her first meeting with Nixe. At the time, nobody had known about her and Sterling, and she was certain nobody would've wanted them together. When she was proven right, it felt as if her heart had been shattered into pieces, but Nixe offered her comfort. Nixe offered to help her in exchange for her labour, but at this point it seemed her wishes were still far out of reach, even with Nixe and all she had done for them.

Had it been denial all these years that had kept her from splitting with Nixe? Or had it been fear? Nixe was never the nicest person, but they did allow Lillith to do things that may've been unexpected from Nixe.

The only reason it took them so many years to strike back was because Lillith wanted to learn more about the well and she wanted to spend time with Bounce, make sure she was raised properly and not pushed to the side during all of this. Reminiscing on the times when Nixe cared for both her and Bounce made Lillith even more hesitant to listen to the two of them.

"Nixe said that they'd make your wish come true, right? So tell me, after all of this, do you think you'll still be getting your wish?" Dolly asked her.

Lillith looked at her in question and then glanced over to Sterling. So much time had passed since that wish was made and everything seemed to have changed in her absence. Was Nixe to blame for not skimping out on their end of the deal? Or was it Lillith for hoping that the greater force she encountered would give her what she wanted?

Lillith stared at the two of them for a long while, a guilty expression on her face.

"I've been nothing but Nixe's puppet all this time. I let them manipulate me and my family under the belief that Nixe would fulfill an empty promise. But...Nixe has done but hurt innocent people. I've let Nixe hurt innocent people." Lillith explained as her gaze fell to the floor," I won't ask you for forgiveness, but I'll request that you keep Rubix and Nixe from finding Danica."

Lillith wasn't the slightest bit bothered by the fact that the two of them appeared confused. If anything, it looked as if she had been expecting this. She walked over to Dolly and held onto both of her hands.

"I can give you the rest of the magic I had from Nixe, but I'll just need a bit more time to fully extract it. Nixe is so focussed on Rubix as their new host, that they won't keep a watch on me." Lillith declared to her.

Dolly narrowed her eyes and then responded with," Are you able to extract your magic while moving around? Because I'd much prefer to keep an eye on you in the case that Nixe is really keeping watch over you. Whar We're going to look for the rest of my team and see if we can reverse the effects Nixe has had on Rubix while King Sterling looks for Bounce. If that's alright with the two of you."

Sterling nodded, though he hadn't expected to have been taking part in this. In truth, ever since he got to Asperity, his objective had been to find Arabella. But, Dolly appeared adamant and even if she was much younger than him she appeared to have a better grasp of the situation than him. If this had to take priority, he decided it was for the best to put his search for his daughter on hold.

"It's fine, I'll do my best to find her." Sterling answered without hesitation," What does she look like?"

"Well, she's about an inch taller than Lillith, she's loud and obnoxious as hell so you can hear her from a mile away, dresses like a skateboarder, and always wears a black beanie." Dolly listed, though Lillith was evidently unapproving of Dolly's description as she shook her head.

Sterling looked at her curiously, a blank expression on his face as he tried using context clues just to figure out what the words "skateboarder" and "beanie" meant.

"Don't worry. If you can't find her, then chances are it'll be the other way around!" Dolly reassured him as she took a hold of Lillith's hand and led herself and Lillith out of the room," Good luck!"

Sterling leaned out of the doorway and looked at the hallway, unsure exactly what either side of the hall held in store for him.

Dolly and Lillith were running through the halls of Asperity together, with the former listening close to see if she could hear her teammates' voices. To her dismay, she couldn't hear anything but the sound of her and Lillith's heeled shoes slamming against the floor. Dolly had already learned that Asperity was nothing more than one big labyrinth right now, so her hopes of finding the rest of her team were diminishing.

"In the case that we find Rubix before your teammates, what do you plan to do?" Lillith questioned as they ran.

Dolly turned to speak with her properly and said," I'm going to set her straight and remind her who she once was."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"Then we'll just have to settle things with a fight." Dolly declared with a shrug," That's what we came here to do anyways."

"Dolly?! Cure Dolly?!" Teddy shouted as the group walked through Asperity's halls with little sense of direction," It'd be easier finding a needle in a haystack with Asperity in shambles like this."

"Lilith? Lilith, where are you?!" Arabella called out, keeping her distance from River and the rest of the group, except Teddy and Hayase. Everytime River tried to get a bit closer or even engage in conversation with her, Arabella would ignore him and continue calling out for Lillith.

"You know, for a future queen she's not as mature as I expected…" Bubbly remarked, scrutinizing Arabella who only crossed her arms impatiently as she walked.

"I'll admit, it's a bit disheartening to see the princess like this." River commented, a guilty look in his eyes as he glanced at Arabella.

"Well, we did make her leave Kai behind." Fantasy reminded the team," She doesn't seem to have much concern over the fate of the kingdom. All she wants is to ensure Kai's safety."

"Teddy, is that you?" The group then heard a voice call out. The sound of that voice got them excited, all of them certain it was Dolly who called out to them.

Around the corner of the hall emerged Dolly and Lillith, the former excitedly rushing over towards her teammates. She was relieved to have finally been reunited with them after all this searching through Asperity and all the missteps she took while looking for them.

"I'm so glad I found you guys after all this time!" Dolly confessed, resting her head on Bubbly's shoulder's for a few moments," You have no idea what I've gone through in your absence."

River suddenly unsheathed his sword and held out his slightly damaged shield, glaring at Lillith as he questioned," What is she doing here with you?"

The Cures only just noticed the dark magic exuding from Lillith and they stood ready to fight alongside River, but Dolly shook her head and only gave a wave of dismissal.

"Don't worry, she's not the one we have to fight against." Dolly assured her team," Lillith is willing to help us end things with Nixe who's currently using Rubix as a host."

"I'm sure you'll all have trouble trusting me...I don't blame you if you do, but I want to at least correct these mistakes. I've had enough of Nixe manipulating me and my loved ones." Lillith declared resolutely.

The team appeared to be divided on Lillith's claim. River, Fantasy and Hayase didn't seem to be all that convinced by Lillith's words but everyone else seemed willing to at least give her a chance.

"If you're brave enough to admit in front of everyone you've been in the wrong for what you've done, I think you can be trusted." Bubbly replied as she took a step forward, joining her hands with Lillith," Plus, you're a lot cuter than I expected! You're like...fun-sized!"

"I'm what?" Lillith asked cluelessly, not fully understanding how her petite stature and her height of five foot and one inch deemed her to be fun-sized.

"Anyways! I guess since we got reunited quicker than expected, our only hope in defeating Rubix without the need for a final battle is finding Bounce." Dolly debriefed to the team," She's the only person aside from Lillith with Nixe's magic and Rubix won't be able to gain control as a host to Nixe if other people are withholding Nixe's magic."

"Bounce? We haven't seen her since we got here." Teddy reminded her skeptically," That stuck-up brat could be anywhere in this place."

"Is anyone there~?!" Bounce shouted as she tried to break open the crystal that encased the door," I don't plan on sitting around here all day you know!"

Bounce turned around and slid down against the crystal encasement, seating herself on the floor in defeat. She shook her head and looked towards the ceiling hoping that if the room's foundation was going to give in, it'd be now.

"It's bad enough I didn't do anything useful to get us to this point, but now I can't even prove my worth in this final battle? This bites." Bounce lamented as she lightly hit the back of her head against the crystal coated door.

Bounce then rested her cheek on her fist, feeling her heart sink a little as she thought about the events from today and the last few weeks. It was clear that progress had been achieved all thanks to Rubix, so it only made sense that Lillith and Nixe doted on her, though Bounce thought it would've been nice if they could've spared some of that attention for her.

Bounce then shook her head vigorously and pulled her hat down all the way over her head, her voice muffled as she said," I don't have the time to be thinking of stuff like this, I gotta fight in this final battle!"

Bounce then lifted up both of her sleeves and started her attempt in punching her way out of the room littered with crystals. Her first punch was most likely going to be her last, as she heard a popping sound that was followed by a searing pain in her hand momentarily.

"Son of a-!" Bounce shouted, before she noticed bits of the ceiling falling to the ground. She looked up expectantly, but it seemed that was all that would happen. Bounce groaned, but then a thought came to her. If the ceiling was giving in, that had to have been because someone was stepping on it from above.

Bounce took a deep breath and yelled out as loud as she could," Hey, anybody up there? I'm stuck in this room!"

Sterling, who had darted past the hallway, took a halt after hearing Bounce's cry from down below. From up here, her shouting was quite faint, but it was so quiet in these halls that Sterling couldn't have missed it.

Sterling ran back into the hall and knelt close to the floor, hoping to hear the voice again.

"Rubix, mom?! It's me, Bounce!" Bounce shouted, cupping her hands and holding them near to her mouth. An uneasy expression arose to her face as she looked up towards the ceiling. Had her mind been playing games with her and there was nobody waiting for her on the other side of the ceiling? She squinted at the ceiling, hoping to see some more debris drop down.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there soon!" A voice shouted back to her.

What she expected to be relief instilled into her was instead a feeling of tension as she took a step back, trying to determine who's voice that was. If it was someone from the kingdom who managed to sneak their way in, she'd be done for. Imprisoned and without much luck to receive help from Lilith or Rubix was what Bounce expected if the person who found her had the intentions she was nervous about.

"I can't just tell them to go away, that'd only make me even more suspicious looking…" Bounce said to herself as she leaned against the crystal coated door," My best bet would be to hide and hope they create an exit out of this room. But...can I stay unseen for that long?"

The room was dimly lit, so maybe if she found the right spot, she'd stand a chance at hiding long enough for her rescuer to assume he had been hearing things.

"How am I supposed to get into that room?" Sterling asked himself, still sitting on the floor as he pressed his palms against the surface. It didn't feel as steady as he expected, but it didn't seem likely that simply pressing down on the ground would've led to its collapse.

"I should've brought Lilith with me, she'd probably know how to break this or at least where the entrance to this room is." Sterling said to himself as he looked both ways. There didn't appear to be a doorway leading to the lower level. In a place like this, it seemed all you really needed was luck on your side to get where you wanted to go.

Sterling sighed, folding his hands as he said," If I could just dig through this with a-"

Just then, Sterling got hit in the back of the head with something that seemingly fell from the ceiling. He heard the clatter of the object hitting the ground moments after and turned around to find a shovel behind him.

"I guess this will work…"

Jack could be seen typing away in the master computer room where Domino had his final battle in, looking closely at one of the few functioning screens left before him. Asperity was in such a mess that the technology in the organization couldn't even hope to keep up with the chaos, but luckily some of the functions were still able to be used.

Jack was jittery at the keyboard, keying in as many commands as he could from the top of his head. When he saw that the shovel went and knocked Sterling on the head, he grinned and got back to work.

"Damn it, none of the screens wanna reboot…At this rate I'll never be able to locate the Pretty Cure, Lilli or Rubix..." Jack muttered to himself as he typed away," It's not like these things had much hope to work after the motherboard got fried, I oughta consider myself lucky I'm still able to punch in commands like this."

Jack was quiet for a few moments as he watched Sterling begin to chip away at the ground beneath him. Watching him made Jack's stomach twist up restlessly, and he was almost tempted to take a pause from his work just to see Sterling enter the room beneath it.

The screen had been flickering on and off, but Jack had seen the room where Bounce was trapped in. He would've gone to save her, but if Sterling was closer by, he figured it'd be a waste of time for him to go and try to find her in the shambles Asperity was in.

"Bounce is finally going to meet him. I know it's probably weird for me to say but...I'm a little psyched." Jack admitted with a somewhat forced smile as he turned around," I just wish you'd be able to see this too."

Bounce pretended she didn't hear the sound of the ceiling getting chipped away and that she didn't stand a chance of being found. But, with the ceiling above her continuing to fall apart, she knew soon enough she was going to get stuck here with somebody from the kingdom.

She was sitting behind one of the largest crystal chunks in the room and was doing a good job in keeping herself hidden since the crystal completely obscured her figure. She did wonder though how long it'd take for her to get discovered once the person chipping away at the ceiling arrived.

Bounce then shook her head and gripped her hand into a fist, saying to herself quietly," If I just sit here allowing myself to feel helpless, then I've already let them won! I'm better than that. When that person comes down here, they're going to wish they never met me!"

It wasn't long before Bounce's rescuer came leaping down from the hole they created. Sterling stood in the center of the room, looking around at the crystals with an inquisitive look in his eye. He looked closer at the crystals, unable to make sense of the images they were projecting. He didn't want to look too much into them, since he came here to rescue Bounce.

Just then, Bounce emerged from her hiding spot, a smirk on her face as she held a pair of neon green and black spheres in both her hands.

"Looking for me, Laruan Kingdom scum?" Bounce questioned, though as soon as Sterling saw her, he stood completely frozen. Bounce seemed rather irritated by the fact that Sterling was without a reaction from her surprise appearance, and the fact that he only continued to stare at her was creeping her out.

"What is it? What are you looking at?" Bounce questioned impatiently, as she disengaged the spheres.

Sterling was still taken aback, but he felt a bit less tense as he responded," You haven't noticed yet?"

Bounce gave him a quizzical look, narrowing her eyes at him before realization hit her hard. Same amber eyes, same green hair, same facial structure. It couldn't have been a coincidence. But it still didn't make sense to Bounce. This person before her, who was most likely the king, couldn't have been her father. He was supposed to be a nameless earthling, that's why she had dark brown hair as a kid and could blend in on earth with ease. Though her dark brown hair did grow out in her late teens. And now it was the exact same colour as the person who stood before her.

Bounce watched Sterling with an indecisive expression, before she remembered what she said before he got here and the situation at hand, thus leading her to conjure up another set of black and green spheres.

"If you really are my dad, then you're the absolute worst excuse for a dad and a king I've ever seen!" Bounce shouted as she flung the spheres towards him," What kind of dad would leave his family to fend for themself while pretending they didn't exist? And would let everyone turn against them? Not to mention leaving for a woman that only wants to fuel that hatred?"

Sterling didn't say anything in response, and Bounce was shaking with anger at this point. Both of the spheres had narrowly missed Sterling, though it was hard to tell whether this was because Bounce was so mad she couldn't aim properly or she was deliberately missing him.

"Now I see why she has some of Nixe's magic." Sterling thought to himself," Lilith couldn't have hoped to have kept her alive during that final battle, but Nixe managed to protect her by guarding her with their magic. Now that same magic must be flowing through her."

Sterling walked towards her and Bounce was getting nervous, stepping back to maintain the distance. Bounce kept stepping backwards with every step Sterling took and soon, she backed herself into the wall.

"I...I never knew it had been you. Mom always said my dad was from earth." Bounce explained as she hung her head," She may have said he died before I was born but she also said he was very kind to her and always took good care of her. She said he made her feel safe and important, that nobody would ever replace her. But I guess that wasn't true, was it?"

"I'd never want anyone to go through what Lilith had to suffer. And I wish I hadn't only just met you today. I wish I hadn't been pressured into the role of king and had been brave to abandon the role when I had the chance. If leaving the kingdom back then meant you and Lilith would've been unharmed and happy today, I would've done it without a second thought. I never intended for Lilith or your family to have been subjected to this kind of treatment and...I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't do anything for you all and allowed my kingdom to view you as the bad guys. If we're able to get out of here unharmed, then I promise I'll do anything to make you and Lillith receive the forgiveness you rightfully deserve. "

Another step towards Bounce was taken, and Sterling knelt slightly to look her in the eye.

"Lillith may have had to raise you on her own but I'll admit, she did a good job. It's good, you stand up for what you believe in, and you're willing to call people out. It's a skill you must've developed on your own, since Lilith and I had always been timid." Sterling said as he put a hand on her shoulder," I don't think you're all that bad, despite what you may think."

"Strange...you've seemed to inherit a lot from me." Sterling remarked as he touched her forehead," Same looks, same bitter voice, same sense of impatience. It's actually refreshing if I'm being honest. It seems the only thing you inherited from Lillith was her height."

Bounce glared at him and questioned," Was that a short joke?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" Sterling retorted, a genuine smile on his face.

Just then, a figure fell into the room from the hole Sterling made and looked at the two of them with content, before an unsettling smile arised on their face.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." The figure said to them, the smile on their face only getting bigger.

The group had been waiting around for Lillith to complete the extraction of her magic so Dolly could take ownership of and somehow destroy it. Lillith told the group a purification attack would've been enough to destroy it, but there was a chance Nixe could outsmart them and cast it away, being able to separate themselves from the magic they originally gifted to Lillith.

"But if Nixe were to do that in the first place, then they wouldn't have to worry about reclaiming their magic from Lilith and Bounce." River pointed out, not fully following Lillith's explanation," They could've been engaging in their final battle with us by now."

"Yeah but, it appears to be a last resort type of move for Nixe." Dolly explained as she drew out a diagram on the ground with some chalk Fantasy conjured up," Lillith and Bounce were both holding quite a bit of Nixe's magic and Nixe is really running out of resources right now. Without any Defectives or any underlings left to fight in their place, Nixe's probably trying to secure their victory by reclaiming all that magic.``

"I know it may seem hard to believe but just like us, I really think Nixe is at wit's end." Dolly confessed as she drew a black scribbly cloud to represent Nixe," I think we could easily get this plan to work, we just have to hope Sterling's found Bounce and they're on their way."

Teddy and Hayase weren't sitting in with the group and Teddy had been awfully quiet around Hayase ever since they escaped the Everlight encased room together.

Teddy was sitting her back towards Hayase on a stone, and while Hayase knew she was frustrated with him, he wasn't ready to approach her about it yet. He figured he'd rather wait until they finished saving the kingdom.

Bubbly was staring at Arabella for a few moments before she nervously said," Um, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you about. Did you always know Kai had the King's Patchwork Heart?"

Everyone in the group fell silent and all eyes were on Arabella. Dolly in particular kept a close watch on Arabella, who was trying her best not to let a disdainful look appear on her face.

"No, I would've never guessed it." Arabella answered casually," Kai may be good at his job but...I really did think that was as far as his talents went. I was certain he was a normal earthling...I'm not even sure how I could've failed to notice."

"Maybe there was a seal on his magic?" Fantasy suggested to her, but Arabella shook her head.

"Kai's an earthling through and through. He always talks about the gigantic family gatherings he has, he can't achieve stuff like that if his family had been spread out in the kingdom."

"Then...maybe it's reincarnation." Teddy suggested,though nobody seemed to be on board with her," Kai's been an earthling all his life, he probably knew nothing of the kingdom until now. But maybe in a past life, he was someone much more prominent in the kingdom."

"But, to get reincarnated into a whole other world?" Dolly asked skeptically before shaking her head," Well, I suppose stranger things have happened. Lillith, how much longer?"

Lillith then unclasped the choker she was wearing and took off the pendant from it, handing in to Cure Dolly.

"If you can find Danica, then we'll be able to defeat Nixe without hurting Rubix." Lillith explained," Despite how cruel she may seem, she's a member of the kingdom and I won't stand for Nixe treating her as a pawn."

River then stood up abruptly and said," While you all do that, I'm going to go back and find the room where we left Kai. I feel guilty for leaving him behind when he meant so much to you Arabella."

"Then I'm coming with you." Arabella replied firmly," You won't have much luck trying to retrace your footsteps, plus...after all Kai has done for me on Earth, the least I could do is protect them in this last battle!"

Lillith glanced towards Dolly and then Arabella and River, as she chimed in with," Nixe may have been the one to remove Kai's Patchwork Heart, but...I think I know how to claim it back. I'll follow with you two to help."

Dolly then clapped her hands together, getting everyone's attention and announced," Ok, so...while you guys go find the room where Kai's been kept, we'll look for Bounce and Sterling. Don't do anything too risky, just find Kai and his Patchwork Heart, and don't go looking for trouble. That's what we're here for."

"What are you going to do?" Teddy whispered to Hayase," It's totally up to you."

Hayase looked over towards the other group, Teddy could tell he was worried for them, since heaven knows what they'd be getting themselves into once the group divided itself. There may've been strength in numbers here, but saving Kai took priority over the size of their team.

"You wanna go with them, don't you?" Teddy asked him, who nodded after a few moments.

"River and Lillith are running low on magic, and Arabella might not be able to fend off whatever they encounter on the way to that room. It's better off I join them, they could use the help."

Teddy responded while nodding," Just remember what Dolly said, don't go looking for trouble. Best case scenario, you find Kai without running into Rubix. Only try to find us if you think it's safe to, alright?"

Hayase nodded in agreement and stood up, parting ways with the Pretty Cure to join the rescue team for Kai.

Teddy started walking with the rest of her teammates in the opposite direction, turning around only for a moment to catch a fleeting glance at Hayase.

" _He's been hiding this secret all this time, and yet he chose to never tell either me or Tadashi."_ Teddy thought to herself, _"There must've been a lot of pressure on him to keep quiet about this for so long."_

" _It's weird, I didn't think I'd ever see her like this."_ Hayase thought to himself as he walked with the other group, _" Had she always been this mature, or did she grow up when I wasn't paying attention?"_

"Hey Dolly, do you think Bounce will have enough time to extract her magic out the same way Lillith did?" Fantasy questioned," I know we've yet to encounter her, but I keep getting this feeling that Rubix is gaining on us."

"Yeah, I don't feel like it'll be much longer until we meet with Rubix again. Dolly admitted, her voice sounding frustrated as she looked down the dim narrow hall that awaited them," In all honesty, I don't think we'll have enough time to get Bounce to fully extract her magic. At this point, our only hope would be to keep Rubix away from the pendant with Lillith's magic from Nixe. It'd be nice to prevent a fight from happening but if we're being realistic, our chances of such a thing are quite low."

Dolly's mind flashed back to the first time she read the lost kingdom of toys books and thought about the illustration she saw of Cure Cheer. While it may have only been a drawing, the kind look in her eyes coupled with her unwavering smile had originally brought reassurance to Dolly. That no matter, everything would've been alright, that it was ok if she was scared or nervous, Cure Cheer probably had been too and maybe that was why her smile was so captivating. Perhaps Cheer had been braving through her all battles, as worried and unsure as Dolly was, but still managed to pull through for the sake of those around her, those who weren't able to fight for themselves.

Dolly took a quick look over to see how her teammates were doing. Everyone seemed a little tense, but they definitely didn't have a clue exactly who they were facing. So finally, Dolly took it upon herself to break the news to them.

Dolly took a step forward and turned to face her team, it was evident how much hesitance was building up in her as she took longer than usual to collect her thoughts.

"Our current enemy is a former ally. She was the one to protect the kingdom from Nixe before us." Dolly explained to her team, her heart starting to race," Rubix is Cure Cheer. Our goal is to defeat Nixe and to save a fellow Pretty Cure, I'm sure after all we've been through that doesn't seem like too much, right?"

Dolly looked at her teammates once more, each of them with a very different expression on their face as they each nodded in response. But the person who she tried her hardest to not look in the eye was Fantasy. This news was going to hurt her way more than the others. But thankfully, Bubbly caught on quick and placed her hand on Fantasy's shoulder, offering her a smile.

"Don't worry, this just means you get to save the person you looked up to all this time. You're going to be your hero's hero!" Bubbly beamed to her, with Fantasy nodding in response.

" _If this all turns out ok...then Hayase will get to meet his sister."_ Teddy thought to herself," _And maybe then his parents won't be so strict about his use of his magic."_

"After this, it's no more fighting. I'm sure you all understand that." Dolly said to the team," We can all return to our normal lives after this, and we can actually do things together that normal friends do like go to the movies, try out new cafes together and...all the other fun stuff you can do with your best of friends. I've never really had friends as close as you guys, so forgive if I mentioned something weird."

"Sometimes I feel as if we're unlikely friends, but I don't quite mind." Dolly stated as she averted her gaze from her team and instead looked at the ground," I wish we didn't have to have met under these circumstances, but...aside from all the fighting and headache, this has been fun!"

The Cures nodded in agreement, and Dolly continued on.

"Um, I...I hope we can continue to have more fun in a normal manner when all this is over. I think I'd have a hard time trying to leave you guys after everything that's happened." Dolly explained nervously as she started playing with her hair," And lastly, I want to thank you all for everything you've done up to this point. You're all very important to this team and to me, and I know each of you bring a unique strength to this team, so I'm certain that Rubix is going to be defeated and Cure Cheer will be coming home with us."

"Keep your hands off me you freak!" The Cures heard a voice shout on the other side of the wall in the hallway. The Cures ran close towards the wall and heard the sound of Bounce shouting and supposedly fighting someone off.

"Rubix must've already found her!" Dolly exclaimed as she drew back from the wall," We gotta find a way to get-"

The wall that kept them apart was suddenly blown apart and Bounce was thrown into the other wall in the hallway. She slid to the ground, clutching onto her chest tight as she heaved in her breaths.

Dolly knelt next to her to see if she was ok, but all Bounce could focus on was Rubix and the smug expression on her face as she admired a black and violet gem between her fingers.

"Wow, this is quite nice. Finally, you've been put in your place after all this time." Rubix remarked as she placed the gem in her palm, closing it around her fist," I was beginning to think I'd have to be stuck working with you for this one last battle against the Pretty Cure. But it turns out, there's no place for you here. Not when you continue to act like deadweight while I carry this team."

Bounce was beyond mad, sitting upright as she bashed her fists into the ground and yelled," I wish you were never fished out of that well! If you weren't here, none of this would be happening!"

"Very observant Bounce!" Rubix exclaimed as she clapped her hands once, taking steps closer to her," If I hadn't been found in the well, if Nixe hadn't chosen me and picked your sorry excuse of a mother for their host, we'd never get as close to victory as we are now. None of this could've been achieved without me."

"Ugh, you're so stupid! You know that?" Bounce questioned as she stood up and started walking towards Rubix," I'm on your side and you don't want my help? Fine! Then don't come crying to me when those Pretty Cure brats smash your face in!"

"We're right here…"Teddy said under her breath, eyes narrowed at Bounce.

"Then tell me Bounce, exactly what good can you do?" Rubix questioned as she grabbed Bounce by the scruff of her shirt," After all this time you've proven yourself to be a freeloader who has no respect for the one member who had been actually getting things done in Asperity. Now the team has disbanded and all that's left is us. But...I don't need your "help" anymore. You served your purpose, I'll get everything else done, like always."

"Lillith did tell me how she'd rather you not get caught up in all this and I thought it was because you're the weakest link. But...that reason didn't sit well with me." Rubix stated as she threw Bounce to the ground," She was scared of the power that lied within you. At least, what she thought you had within you. You're all talk, and now you're really without use. So just let the grownups get to business and it'll all be over soon."

Bounce looked down at the ground, shaking with anger as she felt her heart race at an uncomfortable rate.

"Beat her." Bounce muttered as she pressed her palms against the ground," I don't want you guys to win just for things to stay the same. If you want my support, then you have to fix the kingdom and you have to obliterate this backwards jerk!"

Fantasy looked at her in question, saying,"It sounds more like you'd only side with us under the promise that we'll hurt her rather-"

"We'll do it." Dolly said as she knelt in front of Bounce as she grabbed both of her hands," We're going to give you a kingdom you'll want to call home...and we'll beat her into a pulp, she deserves it anyways."

"Damn right she does." Bounce said as she dusted herself off, while the rest of the Cures looked at Dolly curiously.

"Well, it wasn't like she'd be coming back home unscatched, not after all this." Dolly reminded the team," She needs to learn her lesson before she receives a welcome back."

Dolly turned to face Rubix and said," It's about time we settled things, wouldn't you agree?"

Rubix nodded, a forced smile on her face as she met eyes with Dolly and responded," Indeed, but...I believe you have something of mine."

Rubix closed her eyes and clasped her hands together for a moment, as soon as she separated them, the floor around the Cures and herself came tumbling down, leaving them in a much bigger room better suited for a final battle. Rani and Nova were separated from the team and left with only Bounce.

Bounce scurried back into the room, with the fairies following after her, where all the crystal chunks were, looking for King Sterling. Sterling couldn't be found in the room and Bounce only hoped he was somewhere safe as she looked at the images projected on the crystals.

"This was where the well's magic went..." Bounce said to herself as she looked at yet another projection of children playing with animate toys," It's flowing through earth, no wonder we couldn't get our hands on it. Well, not when we didn't know where to look…"

Bounce thought about Rubix's words again and gritted her teeth, slamming her fist down on one of the crystals' surfaces.

"I want to make her suffer, I need that self-righteous jerk to lose." Bounce said as she pressed her hand against the crystal's smooth surface. Her hand then somehow slipped into the crystal and she stared at it inquisitively, before an idea came to her.

Dolly was in the grasp of a dark violet hand that extended from Rubix's palm, writhing around in its grasp as she tried to keep the hand from squeezing the life out of her.

"I know Lillith gave you the rest of her magic borrowed from Nixe, will you just hurry up and give it back to me?"

"Never! There's no way you're getting this thing back!" Dolly shouted as she tried to break free.

Teddy then leaned towards Bubbly and Fantasy and asked them," Do you think breaking this thing would have the same effect as purifying it?"

"I doubt it, I feel like the magic in the gem would just have an easier time returning to Nixe..." Bubbly answered, her gaze still on Dolly and the gigantic hand around her.

"But it's not like we could purify it right now, even if Rubix is preoccupied with Dolly." Teddy pointed out," Dolly's being all noble again, but at this rate her efforts will be in vain."

Suddenly, a giant hand identical to the one holding Dolly sprouted out from the ground and clung onto Teddy, carrying her up a couple feet into the air.

"I'm tired of these games, I know you're the one who really has the pendant with Lilith's magic." Rubix hissed as she made the hand grip Teddy tighter.

"Yeah, and what are you going to do about it?" Teddy asked as she held the pendant up in her hands, igniting a flaming sphere in her palm that caused the pendant to catch fire.

One of the fingers on the hands twirled around Teddy's extended arm and retrieved the pendant despite the fact that it had caught fire and was nearly unrecognizable at this point. Once it got a hold of the pendant, the hand dropped Teddy without warning and receded back into the ground. Rubix smiled brightly, letting go of Dolly that very instant as the hand that burrowed into the ground resurfaced in front of her.

She took the pendant into her hands and crushed it within her fist. The pendant's magic seeped into her skin and she hugged herself before she extended out her hand, taking note of the fact that her skin was turning the same shade of grey as Lillith's.

"Finally Nixe, I can serve under you properly and help bring your goal to life!" Rubix exclaimed as she spun around," But first...I need to bid you girls farewell. I can't keep having you kids run around like this while I'm trying to make Nixe's dreams a reality."

The magic exuded from Rubix was unreal, it was so hard to believe that this was a former Pretty Cure they were in the presence of when the only magic they could sense from Rubix was ominous and threatening. Rubix had always been someone the team had learned to be cautious around, but now just the idea of being in the same room as her made most of the team uneasy.

Rubix was already a handful on her own, but just a taste of Nixe's magic made her feel all sorts of unlocked power thrive within her. It was slightly overwhelming, making her heart race and her head pound, but it didn't matter to her. All she wanted at this point was to appease Nixe in any way possible.

"Don't worry Rubix! Even if you have offered yourself as a host to Nixe, you're still the same old insufferable jerk to us!" Dolly exclaimed as she clapped her hands," But...admittedly, it'd be nice if we could get the chance to meet the real you, the one who hadn't been toyed with and brainwashed by Nixe."

Rubix raised her eyebrows, an unimpressed look appeared on her face as she placed her hands firmly on the ground, causing four hands to arise and grab each of the Pretty Cure. The hands were quick, none of the Cures had even seen them shoot out from the ground while Rubix only smirked at the sight of the team.

Rubix continued to watch the Cures, she enjoyed getting to see them struggle like this, but then Nixe gained control of her and took matters into their own hands. Nixe balled Rubix's hands into fists and made the grip of the giant hands even tighter around the Cures.

Rubix nodded vigorously as clenched her fists as tight as she could. The Cures looked like they were having trouble against the hands and judging by the looks on their faces, they wouldn't last much longer. Rubix smiled to herself and took a step forward, saying to the team,

"Why am I not surprised this is all you girls could manage? You've been outclassed, it couldn't have been helped. After all, you girls have only been at it for a few months. That's nothing in comparison to-"

Just then, Rubix was kicked hard in the back, so hard that she fell forwards onto the ground. She turned around to see the Cures standing behind her, with Teddy standing an inch ahead of them. Rubix was dumb-founded, near certain that the cures had been in the clutches of the hands but as she turned around, she found that both the Cures and the hands had disappeared.

Rubix's eyes widened in realization as she pointed to Fantasy saying," You tricked me, didn't you?"

"Well, of course." Fantasy answered with a chuckle as she and the rest of the team conjured up their scepters," We're not really in any position to let you have the upper hand, are we?"

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form!" The four of them called out.

Rubix took a good look at the team in their powerup forms, nodding as she said," Fine, it wouldn't be fair if you didn't fight me with everything you had."

"Same goes for you." Dolly responded as she held her scepter in front of her face.


	41. Toychest Pretty Cure's final battle!

Rubix took a quick examination of the four Cures that stood in front of her, the four that kept her from properly fulfilling Nixe's wishes. Each of them powered up had their own unique strengths, something that made them quite a bothersome opponent in more ways than one, but Rubix had yet to reach her physical limits, she wasn't even close.

Teddy ran straight to Rubix without warning and started hurling punches towards her. Rubix dodged each of them with ease, only paying attention to the pained look Teddy had on her face as she fought. Teddy threw another punch, but Rubix caught it and held on tight, twisting Teddy's arm behind her back. Rubix's expression was calm, yet curious and greatly contrasted the frustrated look on Teddy's face.

"If you didn't exist Nixe, I'm certain nobody would be suffering as much as they are right now." Teddy stated as she hung her head," Hayase would've had an older sister, Sterling and Lillith would've figured something out and everybody at the kingdom wouldn't have to be losing their minds over their home getting enslaved by the likes of you!"

Rubix twisted her arm even more and black and violet roots shot out from the ground and curled around Teddy's leg.

"Ah, you've always been the noisy Cure haven't you?" Nixe asked through Rubix as she let go of Teddy's arm and walked on ahead," Though I do need to correct, as you aren't giving me enough, if any, credit. If it wasn't for me, Hayase would've never even had a chance to meet his sister, Lilith and Sterling would've been separated long ago and the kingdom would've still been in the dark about their precious well's true source of power. There is a good and bad side to everything, you've all just been selective of what you deem as such."

Dolly shook her head saying," That may be true, the good and bad side to everything but I've yet to see anything positive from your existence."

Dolly, Bubbly and Fantasy darted up to Rubix, fighting against her three against one. Rubix didn't have much trouble despite being clearly outnumbered. Bubbly was the first to try and fight against Rubix, aiming a kick directly at her, but Rubix ducked and spun around, knocking Bubbly off her feet instead. Next was Fantasy who tried to trick her by conjuring up two copies of herself, though Rubix appeared to have gotten lucky and striked the real one, sending a kick into her chest and calling upon a set of roots identical to the ones that held Teddy captive to keep a hold of Fantasy.

Once Rubix was done with Fantasy, she dashed towards Dolly quicker than anticipated and was inches away from her within a mere matter of seconds. Rubix grinned to Dolly, who instinctively jumped back.

"You really aren't able to figure out what good comes from me?" Nixe asked as she spun around, her back against Dolly before she bent backwards, hanging her head back and meeting her gaze again," I can grant wishes."

Another second passed by and all of a sudden, Rubix was right in front of Dolly again, ready to attack. Dolly jumped back, barely missing a punch from Rubix and ducked for a moment before Rubix struck again.

"Yeah right," Dolly responded, rolling her eyes as she took a step back," I don't doubt that you could, but it seems you haven't really done any wish granting after all this time."

Dolly jumped back, a more serious expression appearing on her face as she said," You only trick people into thinking you grant wishes. You never gave Lillith what she wanted."

"But you can't say I hadn't tried." Nixe pointed out to her, the uncharacteristic smile still on Rubix's face," When I promised that she and her beloved would end up together, I really intend for them to be reunited...in the crypt that is!"

Dolly ran around Rubix and held out her PlayPact and scepter together shouting," Pretty Cure, Pretend mode!"

The tip of her scepter turned sharp like a sword and Dolly cut Fantasy and Teddy free from the roots that chained them. The two of them rose to their feet immediately and Dolly turned her attention back to Rubix.

Rubix didn't seem very alarmed, and only crossed her arms, drawing out an elongated sigh as she said," I'm capable of granting any wish, I don't come with restriction but time and time again, humans come to me only in their time of need, wishing for something selfish. It's never anything materialistic though, strangely enough. But it doesn't have to be materialistic in order to be a selfish wish. I like to think a wish gets reflected in the journey taken to obtain, it makes sense doesn't it?"

"There's nothing selfish about wanting to be with the one you love most." Dolly responded impatiently, her eyes narrowed as she tried to determine her next move," You just wanted to take control over someone who you knew you could manipulate to do your bidding. And you're doing it again."

Dolly held her scepter down, reverting back into its original form while she said," Rubix, you might not want to accept this, but you haven't always been like this."

Rubix smirked, offering an inquisitive look to the girl before she raised her hands up, erecting a mass of violet and black arrows to shoot up from the ground and attack the Cures. The Cures were quick on their feet, jumping out of the way and as high as they could. The arrows could reach a lot farther than they had expected, and the only one able to stand on the ground safely was Rubix.

She looked up towards the Cures, her face reflecting a more unimpressed look as her eyes fell to Dolly, curious about what else she had to say.

"You know you weren't always this heartless jerk, you were actually likeable at one point…" Bubbly pointed out to her as she narrowly stepped on the tip of one of the arrows that shot out to her," In fact, one of our own teammates looked up to you."

Fantasy lowered her head for a moment, unsure of what to say to Rubix, who she despised all this time but found herself having trouble fighting against after learning the truth. Fantasy returned to the ground and took a nervous step towards Rubix, inspecting her as she walked closer.

"It's true, in your former life...you were my hero. The hero of fortitude." Fantasy declared shakily as she took a step closer," Your sacrifice meant everything to me, to my family and the kingdom. You were truly a hero worth looking up to. There was nobody else that I idolized as much as Cure Cheer, your former self."

Hearing that name pained Rubix, it was like hearing pots and pans clatter onto the ground.

" _Remember, that was your former self. The past version of you who could never compare to who you are today."_ Nixe reminded her softly.

Rubix had the arrows retreat to the ground and smiled at Fantasy, shaking her head as she replied with," Oh dear, did you think I didn't already know that? Of course I was aware who I used to be! Keyword being used to."

The four Cures exchanged expressions, all of them sharing the same uneasy look before they returned their gaze to Rubix. Rubix seemed so smug, there wasn't any way that she could've been lying right now. But for her to have known the entire time made no sense to any of the Cures.

Teddy rolled her eyes, running up towards Rubix as she held out her scepter that was scorching out flames from the top.

"If you knew you were Cure Cheer this whole time, then it should've been you of all people to put a stop to Nixe, not just us!" Teddy reprimanded as she swung her scepter towards Rubix, who smacked the scepter out of Teddy's hand, leaving the flames that shot out from it to create a flaming circle around her and Rubix.

Dolly urged Bubbly and Fantasy to follow her towards the flaming circle, looking towards Bubbly who already appeared to be a step ahead of her and held out her scepter.

Teddy didn't mind being without her scepter, if anything, it had become a hindrance to her since she couldn't fight properly with it in hand. Teddy took a step forward and dodged a punch from Rubix, using the same trick that Rubix used on her earlier, though admittedly her grip hadn't been as strong. Teddy fought to keep Rubix still, but at one point it seemed Rubix gave up and closed her eyes for a moment.

"You couldn't possibly understand what I feel towards the kingdom that gave up on me." Rubix said as the flaming ring around them was extinguished with a stream of water from Bubbly. A set of violet and black roots then emerged from Rubix's skin and latched onto Teddy, drawing her in close and detaching from Rubix to toss Teddy high up into the air.

Rubix then turned around once she was free from Teddy's grip and extended her hand up high.

"Reconfigure." She called out, looking up towards the ceiling.

A grid appeared on the walls and floors of the rooms, with certain tiles glowing a bright violet colour. Moments after the tiles had glowed, they'd open up revealing giant, razor-sharp arrows inside of them. The arrows seeked the Cures out and chased them down persistently.

"I guess it's fine, I don't expect you to empathize. Not when the kingdom you're fighting for has committed crimes beyond your concern." Rubix said to the Cures, though she was doubtful they were still paying attention to her.

The Cures were much too busy trying to outrun the arrows but to no avail, as each arrow reached its respective Cure and drove them into the walls. Rubix continued to watch the team with an unimpressed look in her eyes as the Cures collided into walls and slid off to the floor.

" _This is nice to watch, isn't it Rubix?"_ Nixe asked as Rubix stared at the Cures with a blank look in her eye," _Let's show these Cures their actions up until now will have no merit and all their efforts were a waste."_

These Pretty Cures were beyond help, there wasn't any hope for them if this was the best they could do. Rubix shook her head, knowing she had accomplished much more and was a lot stronger than the team, even with their strengths combined. A sigh escaped Rubix's lips before a memory flashed into her mind.

" _Pretty Cure Aurora Daydream!" Cure Cheer shouted at the top of her lungs as she held out her hands, a blinding ray of light shooting out from it towards Nixe who had taken over Lillith's body._

 _Her attack hit Lillith dead on but she didn't appear to be affected in the slightest. Lillith only laughed at Cheer's attempt before she lifted up her arm and summoned a violet thorny set of roots to grab hold of Cheer._

 _Cheer didn't even have a moment to think and before she knew it, she was caught up in the roots and was getting squished in Lillith's clutch. The thorns pierced into her skin, the thought of withstanding just another second of this was unbearable._

 _Cheer hung her head and clenched her teeth, tears forming in her eyes as she thought to herself," I just can't' do this! I won't be able to defeat her at this rate!"_

" _What's the matter Cure Cheer? Where did all that can-do spirit go?" Lillith questioned coyly as the roots held onto Cheer tighter," Is this really the guardian of the kingdom I'm fighting against?"_

 _Only a few minutes into this battle and Cheer was already at wit's end against Lillith. Cheer hadn't expected Lillith to be as strong as she was, and maybe it was her mistake for underestimating Lillith and more importantly, overestimating herself._

 _Cheer then did everything in her power to smile and just laugh off what Lillith said. She tried calming herself down as a reminder that this wasn't the limits of her strength, that she wasn't given the title of Cure Cheer, the hero of fortitude, without reason._

" _Are you kidding me? I've only just gotten started!" Cure Cheer exclaimed as her body glowed a faint white light that repelled the roots and forced them to let go of her. Not only did the light make the roots drop her, but her bruises and scratches from the roots had disappeared too._

" _You're sorely mistaken if you think I'm gonna let you trample through my kingdom, I don't have the time or the patience for the likes of you to wreak havoc on my home!" Cheer said to Lillith as she pointed to her._

 _Their fight raged on for much longer than either of them anticipated and the longer the fight went on, the more respect each person had for the opponent. But, Cheer didn't really care to have this fight go much longer. The kingdom may've been on its way to ruins but Earth was completely normal, and she had a science midterm to study for. As soon as she got word from her classmate how important this "midterm" thing was, she knew time was of the essence._

 _Cheer rose up in the air, hovering a few feet away from Lillith as she twirled around once and shouted,_

" _Pretty Cure, Eternal Light of Dawn!"_

 _Lillith tried to dodge but the problem in doing so was that the attack wasn't something that would be fired, it would change the entire atmosphere around them, there wasn't any way for her to escape._

" _I'm sorry you've been forced to do these things Lillith, but I won't stand for this any longer. I'm erasing Nixe from this kingdom and I'm going to help you out of all this." Cheer reassured her, taking a step back._

 _Just then, a powerful gust of wind appeared from the well of wonder, located a few feet away from them. Cheer turned around and the winds from the well only got stronger. She defensively held her arms in front of herself as she tried getting a glimpse of the well. It was hard to see exactly what had been going on but a thought then came to her. Perhaps this was the well trying to communicate with her in an attempt to team up. Cheer didn't waste a second and ran towards the well, wanting to see if the well really was intent on aiding in this battle._

 _Cheer leaned against the well and looked down into it as the winds continued to blow. She had a hard enough time trying to keep her eyes open with the wind cutting through, but the inside of the well glowed a blinding white light that left her no other choice but to avert her gaze from it._

" _False alarm?" Cheer guessed with a sigh before she noticed an entanglement of roots sprouting up from behind her. The roots kept growing and growing until they reached her back and suddenly, they pushed her in. Cheer screamed, falling into the well and it no longer was shining the blinding light, reverting back to the appearance of a normal well, it's inside dark and only streaming water._

 _Lillith was on her knees, fighting to stand back up, but she couldn't do it. She gasped in her breaths and felt her head pounding as she tried to comprehend what just happened._

" _We defeated her!" Nixe exclaimed to Lillith, who only kept looking at the well in question," This kingdom has lost its sole guardian, now we can-!"_

" _No, I can't move another inch Nixe." Lillith said between gasps as tears cascaded down her cheeks," I don't think I can go on like this."_

 _Nixe could feel their patience wearing thin with Lillith, but they didn't reprimand her. Instead, they offered her comforting words._

" _You have nothing to worry about, as long as we're together, I won't let anything bad happen to you." Nixe claimed, though Lillith only appeared to be half-listening," Rest assured, this fight won't be the end of-"_

" _I'm not talking about that." Lillith said impatiently as she balled her hands into fists, slamming them against the ground._

" _I was left behind, nobody tried to find me."_ Rubix thought to herself as she watched the Cures struggle to their feet, _" I did what was needed and after that, they didn't feel the need to help me."_

Hayase, Arabella, River, and Lillith finally found the room where Kai was. They remained untouched thankfully and still appeared to be at rest. Arabella wasn't content to find Kai just as they left them and ran towards their bedside. She shook her head in disbelief and then gave her attention to Lillith questioning,

"Why won't they wake up?"

"His Patchwork Heart had been taken from him and we had been corrupting it ever since." Lillith explained," At this point, it'd be a miracle if he regained consciousness."

"Well we're going to make that miracle happen, I'm not going to leave here with Kai as a corpse." Arabella declared sternly as she stood up," Also FYE, Kai goes by they, not he."

"FYE?" Lillth and River repeated confusedly.

"It's FYI, ditz." Hayase muttered under his breath," In any case, there's still few things we need to determine before we can even hope to save Kai. One, where did his Patchwork Heart go and two, exactly how was it corrupted?"

All eyes turned to Lillith who still had gaze set solely on Kai.

"We used the same shards we had been using to create Defectives, only with Kai...we hadn't made a Defective." Lillith explained briskly," The shard was left in his Patchwork Heart to make his magic usable for our purposes. One of our objectives had been to refill the empty well with the sacrifice of Kai's corrupted Patchwork Heart and…"

"Mine, right?" Hayase asked, though his blunt tone made Lillith uncomfortable," I showed up a bit late to this party, so I'm assuming there hadn't been enough time to corrupt my Patchwork heart like Kai's. But anyways, that still leaves the question of where you've kept the Patchwork Heart."

"It's in the room where we've kept the well, we decided that if Kai's Patchwork Heart would be corrupted, it'd be easier to just mix the corrupted heart with an untainted one." Lillith explained to the team, though Arabella didn't seem all that approving of Lillith's explanation or reasoning.

"I guess that makes sense, an untainted Patchwork Heart wouldn't be so hard to corrupt if exposed to the corruptive magic of another…" Hayase thought aloud," That is assuming untainted doesn't necessarily mean pure..."

River was growing tired of all this idle conversation and finally asked the question," So how are we supposed to reach the room where you've stored the well when this place is in a complete disarray?"

Lillith pursed her lip, and then walked towards the light in the room. The room was lit with a single candle mounted on the wall by an ornate holder, though it really wasn't needed as light was already pouring in beyond the glass walls.

"Any bright ideas?" Lillith asked into the largest gem on the candle holder.

Jack's face flushed red as he saw Lillith gaze into one of the screens with a blank look in her big eyes. He didn't think she had already noticed him. Jack then looked at the multitude of screens, trying hard to determine the quickest route to the room where the well was hidden.

Jack furrowed his brows, unable to find anything of use to the team, grumbling to himself," Damn it, I haven't seen anything leading to the well's room in a while. That can't be a coincidence…"

"C'mon Jack! You can't be this useless at a time like this!" Jack said to himself as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes to concentrate," I feel like Domino had explained how to do something like this before…"

An idea came to him, but he wasn't certain it would've worked. He then went to the keyboard and started to type in commands quickly.

"Disable the screens that aren't working and by default, more footage of different areas will show up, right?" Jack said to himself as he typed away. The screens that didn't show anything due to either something blocking the lens or were in a dimly lit room were disabled and more screens showing different views from Asperity appeared. Jack noticed all the new viewings from the screens, but he wasn't ready to celebrate just yet. The new sights on the screen were even less useful to him, though they did display clear footage of the areas they were in so at this point it became a process of elimination.

At first, Jack was tempted to just disable as many screens as he could but then a thought came to him. It was likely that the room holding the well didn't have a screen inside of it, plus it wouldn't have been of any use for him to have a view inside of the room. That wouldn't indicate how far away the team was from it, it would've been better to find a screen to it's entrance.

Jack eyed all the screens carefully, trying to see if any of them would've been useful to keep. Jack kept an eye out for a room with a door, as most if not all the rooms in Asperity didn't have any doors and the select few that did had probably crumbled away at this point.

Jack disabled a few more screens and came across one with poor lighting, but he was able to see a door on it. He grinned excitedly and then pressed a button that had the lens move around so he could get an idea of where the room was.

Jack nodded his head and then looked down to the paper on his desk where he scribbled the approximate location of each room the screens showed him.

"Ok...think I got it." Jack said to himself, holding down a button on the keyboard and saying into the speaker on the desk," I'll meet you outside that room, I can lead the way!"

"If you don't think we'll understand now, then you're probably right." Dolly said as she held out her scepter, conjuring up a bright violet whirlwind," We won't understand if you won't even tell us what happened!"

The whirlwind blown towards Rubix was dodged by her effortlessly, but the whirlwind didn't disappear so easily. Instead, it only got stronger and pulled her in, along with the arrows that continued to fly around the room.

"Yeah, I mean...you have done some really bad things but...you haven't really done anything to justify your actions. All you've been doing is praising Nixe and letting them take advantage of you." Bubbly pointed out as she summoned out a set of raging water tendrils with her scepters. The water tendrils worked in tandem with the whirlwind, and once the whirlwind dispersed, the tendrils only got stronger.

Rubix got caught up in one of the water tendrils, holding her hands in front of herself to keep the damage to herself to a minimum. Once the tendrils returned to the ground, Rubix landed on her feet, but she was soaked from head to toe, and her hair came down from her bun, falling to her shins.

Fantasy cringed at the sight of Rubix with her hair down, taking note of just how similar she looked to her former self. Fantasy shook her head, chiding herself for not realizing it sooner.

"You want an explanation? Fine." Rubix said as she conjured up a bright blue translucent cube and stood on top of it," Exactly how do you think I joined Asperity?"

The Cures exchanged curious glances, but Dolly answered without hesitance and responded with," It was when Lillith found you in the well right?"

"Why do you think I was there?" Rubix asked as she took a seat on the cube that only flew up higher," Lillith may have been the one to push me, but it was the kingdom at fault for not even making the effort to look for me, only assuming I went down with Lillith. The kingdom had no interest in searching for me, and everything went back to normal despite my absence. I'm sure if such a thing happened to you girls you'd question your choice of becoming a Pretty Cure."

"But...strangely enough, I don't feel regret from becoming a Pretty Cure." Rubix confessed as a smile rose to her face while she sprawled out on the cube," Since if it wasn't for the untimely end of my career as Cure Cheer, I would've never met the real me!"

" _Yes, that's completely right Rubix! None of this would've been possible without you!"_ Nixe praised as Rubix swung her right hand over the gridded wall.

The tiles on the grid opened up again but no arrows were shot out. Instead, the room went dark for a moment and then suddenly, the Cures found themselves trapped in cubes identical to the one Rubix was sitting on.

"Ok, I've had my fun. I think I'm getting bored now." Rubix admitted as she tied her hair up back into a bun.

"Rubix! Do you really think Cure Cheer would have approved of all of this?" Fantasy blurted out as she pressed her hands against the cube's surface.

"Why would it matter?" Rubix said as she leapt off the cube and placed her hand against the opposite side of the cube where Fantasy's hand rested," It's not like she's here."

Bounce was screaming as she was hurling down to Earth with the fairies, having not expected to have been practically cannoned out from the crystal's entrance to the human world. This was a lot more uncontrollable and fear-inducing than her usual method of travelling between the two worlds.

Bounce and the fairies crashed gracelessly into a bush and immediately sprung to their feet, looking around for the groups of kids playing with their toys. It wasn't too much of a challenge, as it seemed virtually every child in the park was playing with an animate stuffed toy.

"This is insane…" Bounce said to herself as she surveyed the children running around her," I've never seen so many kids with talking stuffed toys."

"So...does this mean all the magic from the well went to Earth? There's no other way these toys could've been brought to life!" Nova remarked, with Rani nodding in return.

"Perhaps this newfound source of magic can become of use to us right now...but the question is...exactly where is the magic that's bringing these toys to life?"

Bounce then brought Rani's attention to the fountain in the park, and Rani's eyes widened with surprise. The well's magic had been collected in yet another body of water, but how would they be able to bring this to the Pretty Cure?

Jack led Hayase and Lillith to the well's room, his focus on only the map he drew for himself as he ran to the room. He looked behind himself every few moments to see if the two of them were able to keep up with him now that the pent-up adrenaline he had finally got a chance to release it.

" _I'm staying with Kai, you can all go on ahead." Arabella said to the group before they left," I don't want anything to happen to them in my absence, the risk is too great."_

" _Then I'll stay with you." River declared, though Arabella seemed against his decision," If the risk is that great, are you in any place to refuse help?"_

 _River then turned his attention to Hayase and Lillith, saying,"_ _Be careful on your way and do whatever it takes to reclaim Kai's Patchwork Heart. And I want you to stay extra vigilant."_

Hayase sighed as he heard River's words resound in his mind, he sounded just like his mother.

"This is it!" Jack exclaimed as he skidded to a stop," Now all that's left is to take back that Patchwork Heart!"

Hayase opened the door to the room and all the only things found in the room were the well and the Patchwork Heart lying beneath a glass cover in the well's bucket. They could barely see a thing in the room as it was far too dark, but nobody was complaining since they finally reached the well.

Hayase walked up towards the well and placed his hands on the glass cover for the Patchwork Heart.

Jack exhaled a sigh of relief and smiled while saying," I almost can't believe we made it."

Jack then noticed Lillith growing uncomfortable in the room as she looked around it warily. Jack looked at her curiously, but then he felt a shiver crawl his spine and he could sense a very corrupt form of magic in the room, but it wasn't from the Patchwork Heart.

Hayase removed the Patchwork heart from the well, still keeping in its glass container. Once he turned around, he finally saw the distressed expressions on the siblings' faces.

"What is it?" Hayase asked them.

"We gotta get out of here." Jack declared as he tried to make a run for it, but out from the shadows appeared a giant Defective that took the form of a skeleton with bright violet eyes.

"What is that thing?" Hayase questioned as he held onto the Patchwork Heart tighter.

"I...I don't know. They got rid of all the Defectives, maybe Nixe had been hiding this thing from us just in case?" Lillith suggested as Jack clung to her frightfully.

"That thing is way too big and has way too much magic to be a Defective!" Jack claimed as he pointed towards it in panic," It's a, a Deluxsive! No, no uh...a Deluxor!"

"It's probably only here for one reason, to protect the well and this thing." Hayase surmised while motioning to the Patchwork Heart," Collectively, we likely don't have enough power to stop it, our best bet is trying to escape."

Rubix took one last glance at the Cures before she went to bid them farewell. They had tried to escape from the cubes through a more physical approach but it proved to have no effect on the cubes. Rubix was impressed though, not by the fact that the Cures were still struggling to fight against her but that they couldn't even figure out how to break through her cubes.

"Don't worry, I don't have any intention on ending your lives." Rubix reassured the girls as she crossed her arms," That's too easy. These cubes can act like a portal and transport you to any other dimension in the universe, preventing you to return. You could be sent to a primitive world where you're all still breathing through gills, or you could be taken to a place where humanity dies out and I could just leave you four to bicker amongst yourselves over your bitter defeat. I quite like that option if I'm being honest."

Teddy leaned against the wall of the cube and slid down against, her eyes narrowed at Rubix who only continued to list the other choices she had in mind. Teddy then glanced over to Dolly on her right, who appeared to be too lost in thought to even listen to Rubix's musings.

" _It seems the only way to get out of here would be to perform a purification attack on the cubes."_ Dolly thought to herself as she lightly kicked the bottom of the cube, _"But if we were to do that, would we still have enough power to defeat Rubix and Nixe? We aren't really in a position to waste our energy unless it's a necessity. I'm sure Rubix already thought ahead for this. Not only that, exactly what can we say to convince Rubix she's doing the wrong thing? It's clear that she won't listen to reason. But...I can't imagine how much pain she's been in this whole time. At this point, it's a matter of getting through to her."_

Dolly then looked towards her scepter, her face appearing unsure as she held it tighter. The last thing she wanted was to expend any power needlessly. If by chance she used up too much power and couldn't defeat Rubix, she wouldn't have been able to forgive herself. But the idea of not being able to have another chance to fight against Rubix and get sent to another dimension seemed even more unforgivable.

Dolly then held out her scepter, and yelled as loud as she could," Pretty Cure, Dressing Dolly Parade!"

The cube shattered, unable to contain Dolly's attack and allowing her to literally break free from the cube. Violet mist shrouded the area where Dolly's cube once was and once it dissipated, Dolly could be seen brushing off her dress and readjusting her hair bow.

"You know, I met some friends of yours at the Kingdom. Remember the Celestians? They really miss you." Dolly stated as she held out her scepter towards Rubix.

Rubix looked at her inquisitively and opened her mouth to speak, but decided against responding.

Teddy, Bubbly and Fantasy followed Dolly's lead and broke the cubes through using their purification attacks. Each Cure held their scepter up high inside the cube.

"Pretty Cure, Teddy Bear Picnic!"

"Pretty Cure, Brilliant Bubbling Carnival!"

"Pretty Cure, Fantastic Daydream Jubilee!"

Once all the Cures broke free from the cubes, Rubix didn't appear as intimidated as the Cures expected, though Dolly had a feeling as to why.

Rubix conjured up a pair of bright pink and blue cubes that floated on either side of her. Another cube appeared from beneath her and she took a seat on it.

"To be honest, I would've been disappointed if you hadn't figured out how to break through the cubes, it's really a good thing that you're the leader huh?" Rubix remarked as she looked to Dolly," But it seems the leader has overlooked a certain something."

Dolly furrowed her brows, putting her scepter away for a moment as she said," Even if we might not have enough power magically to defeat you, that won't stop us from trying!"

"Then I won't stop you from trying." Rubix said as she stood up on top of the cube as the cube grew taller. The cube resembled more of a rectangle and once it was as tall as Rubix, she purposefully slid inside of it. When the rectangle disappeared, Rubix's form changed. Her hair had turned white with the ends their former mauve tone and her skin was now dulled to gray. Her outfit was much more extravagant being a light gray, black and white dress, easily a much more befitting choice for the new leader of Asperity. Nestled into her hair was a little black tiara similar to the one Lillith once wore but much more flashy with a mass of diamonds embellished into it.

"I have to admit, I can't get enough of your persistence, I think I'm growing quite fond of you girls and your keep trying attitude." Rubix remarked as she brought her hands close to her face," It's a shame that's all you'll be able to do though. Just keep trying until you're handed defeat."

Rubix then snapped her fingers and a pair of black and violet flames held in white intersecting rings appeared from her hands.

"I've been awfully kind, humoring you girls until the very last second, but I think it's about time we wrap things up. Plus, I think you should get some first-hand experience on fighting the former hero of fortitude at the top of her game." Rubix claimed as she floated a few feet up, holding her hands out in front of herself. She blasted the flames towards the Cures and they narrowly dodged her attack, but the flames only grew larger once they reached the ground, making it impossible for the girls to maneuver around the floor.

Dolly and Teddy were surrounded by the growing flames, finding themselves unable to find a way out.

"Can't you blow the flames away?" Teddy asked Dolly in desperation, her back against her fellow Cure's as they watched the flames pass them in height.

"That's not how that works." Dolly responded as she clutched the brooch on her bow," Rubix's just keeps unveiling more attacks and overpowering us. We won't be able to keep up at this rate."

Teddy sighed impatiently and responded with," That's really not the kinda talk I want to hear from my lead Cure. She's outnumbered, it's not like she's stronger than us."

"Yet she is. But...that's not the problem." Dolly claimed as she clutched her brooch tighter," I knew it'd be damn near impossible to defeat Rubix, with or without our best efforts. It's no use trying to get on her level in terms of power, we need her to realize that she has nothing to gain from betraying the kingdom and her former self."

"It's no surprise Rubix feels underappreciated, I guess I would too." Teddy admitted as she looked towards the ground for a moment, " But that still doesn't give her a reason to side with Nixe like this."

" _Lillith was promised to have her wish granted if she let Nixe use her as a host, did the same thing happen to Rubix? If so, what was it that she wanted most?"_ Dolly thought to herself before a giant bubble appeared in front of them. The two Cures looked up and found Bubbly and Fantasy riding a pair of giant seahorses made from bubbles.

"We don't have anytime to waste you know!" Bubbly reminded them as she pointed to the bubble," Jump off of it and we'll make you guys some seahorses of your own in just a jiffy!"

"Envy Cross!" Jack shouted as he formed an 'X' with his arms in front of the Deluxsor," You've now been subjected to my hypnosis. You will now want the opposite of your desires and serve only me~"

The Deluxsor stared at Jack, a confused expression on its face as Jack held out his index finger and requested it to follow his finger's every movement.

"He's quite the actor." Hayase said to Lillith quietly as the two tried tip toeing to the room's exit.

"Admittedly, he's always been like this." Lillith responded sheepishly, averting her gaze from Jack to avoid any second-hand embarrassment.

Hayase and Lillith were braced against the walls, side-stepping towards the exit of the room in desperate hope that Jack's little improvised "attack" would keep the Deluxsor occupied for as long as they needed. Jack's plan seemed to have been working surprisingly enough, but it was hard to tell how long Jack could manage to keep the Deluxsor distracted.

"Can't be... doing this...n-n-n-need to protect t-the well….and…." The Deluxsor said, startling Jack as he had yet to learn the Deluxsor could speak until now.

The Deluxsor glanced over to the well and finally remembered the Patchwork Heart had been taken.

"...the heart." The Deluxsor looked around the room and found Lillith and Hayase halfway towards the door. The Deluxsor pushed Jack away and started to run towards the two of them.

Hayase and Lillith ran towards the door, but the Deluxsor sealed off their exit by blasting a black sphere to it that turned into a barrier.

"Are you sure Nixe never mentioned this thing to you?!" Jack questioned incredulously, scrambling to his feet as he pointed to the Deluxsor.

Lilith made a face at Jack and Hayase ran past the Deluxsor in the opposite direction, heading straight for the well. Hayase stood on the well, his feet on the edges of the opening to it. He ripped the cover off of the Patchwork heart and held it in his bare hands. It felt somewhat like a plush toy, though he tried holding it with the utmost care, worried that something would've happened to Kai if he didn't.

"You want this thing, right?" Hayase asked the Deluxsor, who nodded vigorously in response," Well, that's too bad. It's gonna come with me into the well if you don't back off."

"Get down from there, there's no way you're doing that!" Lillith yelled to Hayase indignantly, though Hayase only ignored her.

"He's a lunatic…" Jack said with a groan, though he was in truth somewhat impressed by what he saw.

"Doesn't….even m-matter." The Deluxsor pointed out to him," The heart….h-heart was meant to go in the well."

"That may be true, but the last thing you'd want is this Patchwork Heart to get mixed in with mine." Hayase advised as he held up Kai's Patchwork Heart," This heart that's been corrupted by Nixe's magic will only have its corruption reversed if it gets in contact with my Patchwork Heart. I'm in possession of this heart's adversary and my magic will not only create a purified Patchwork Heart but it will also replenish the well of the magic it's lost."

Hayase then made the Patchwork Heart levitate from his hands and a glowy blue aura that resembled the night sky flowed around it.

"It'd be quite beneficial to us if this Patchwork heart were to return to normal, maybe even stronger because of my own. Of course if Nixe found out, they'd never forgive you." Hayase warned the Deluxsor.

" _Guess we have two actors in this room."_ Lillith thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes at Hayase.

"How in the hell are we supposed to bring this back to Asperity?" Bounce questioned as she pressed her hands against the well's edge," What, do we pail it all into jugs and carry it there?"

"She's thinking too literally." Rani commented with a sigh as she and Nova looked into the fountain," It'd be nonsensical to even think we could carry this fountain there, but how else can we give the Pretty Cure the extra magic they're probably in dire need of?"

"Something like the cube Domino designed for us might have come in handy for this." Nova remarked as she looked at her reflection in the well.

Bounce shook her head as she looked into the fountain, frustrated beyond belief when suddenly, someone tugged on her sweater. She turned around and found one of the animate plush toys, a plush zebra to be exact, standing with its owner.

"Do you guys...need the fountain?" The zebra asked out of concern.

Bounce exchanged expressions with the fairies and nodded to the zebra seconds later. The zebra smiled at her and joined her in looking down into the fountain.

"We might not fully understand the workings of the fountain, but what we do know is that it gave life to all of us plush toys." The zebra plush said while its owner stroked its mane," The power of this fountain...it wasn't always here, was it?"

"Obviously not." Bounce said with a scoff, only to get elbowed by Nova," It's from a kingdom worlds away, the Kingdom of Toys. We need its magic to help the people who are trying to save the kingdom. Things aren't looking so hot now, so we'll need any kinda magic we can get our hands on."

"Kingdom of Toys?" The zebra plush's owner repeated curiously," You mean like the kingdom in the book series? Is it really real?"

The little girl got up in Bounce's face with her own face full of excitement. Bounce leaned back awkwardly and glanced over to the fairies while nodding hesitantly.

"That's like one of my favourite stories of all time! If it's a real place, then there's no way we're going to refuse to help!" She exclaimed.

"Shh Kotomi, I think you're overwhelming her." The zebra plush said to her," Anyways, we're going to figure out a way to combine our efforts to help save this Toy Kingdom and I'm not talking about just the two of us."

"Everyone get over here!" Kotomi screamed to the rest of the kids in the park, startling Bounce and the fairies. Kotomi was much louder than the group expected since her voice was so soft.

All the kids and their plush mates gathered around the fountain and Rani explained the situation to all of them.

"Right now, we need to help the Pretty Cure out by creating something like a powerup item that uses the magic inside the fountain. Something like the toy toppers they insert into their scepters would be ideal but in a case like this, we won't be too picky." Rani explained to the kids and their plushmates, though they didn't seem to fully understand and only nodded to convince Rani otherwise.

"So to summarize, we need to build some that sorta looks like an oversized key, ok?" Bounce said to the kids.

The kids nodded and got to work, splitting into four groups to search for materials to use.

"Is this actually going to work?" Bounce asked the fairies once the kids were out of earshot.

Dolly just dodged a punch from Rubix, but was immediately kicked in the stomach moments later. Dolly staggered a few steps back, but Rubix wasn't finished with her quite yet. She conjured up a dark sphere with intersecting rings and blasted it towards Dolly. Dolly didn't have much time to dodge since she had yet to recover from Rubix's kick, but luckily, the bubble seahorse Bubbly made for her swooped in and flew her up high and out of range from Rubix's attack.

Dolly examined the ground beneath her, up in flames yet again due to Rubix. Rubix's flame attack seemed to be indistinguishable, even with Bubbly's powers. So if it wasn't water that could have any effect, it must've been time. The flames from before diminished after a while and it seemed Rubix wasn't able to do the attack so freely, but did fighting up in the air really bring her that much of an advantage?

Dolly looked down towards the ground again and to her surprise, the flames on the ground had vanished.

" _Wait, is Rubix finally running out of stamina?"_ Dolly wondered as she looked towards Rubix, who only had that smug look present on her face," _No, that's not it. She's got something up her sleeve!"_

"Reconfigure!" Rubix cried out as she held out her arms. The tiles of the room opened up again and shot arrows towards the Cures, but this time the arrows were headed straight for the Cures' seahorse. Each girl had her seahorse popped and descended back to the ground moments later.

Fantasy sat upright, rubbing her back tenderly as she said," It's a good thing those flames weren't here to catch our fall."

"No, but chances are Rubix's got something worse in store for us." Teddy pointed out as she narrowed her eyes at Rubix who only soared higher into the air.  
"Phosphorus Decadence!" Rubix shouted as she extended her right hand up high. Out from her hands appeared a giant white sphere of energy, radiating heat and magic just as purely dark as Nixe' Cures looked at the floating white orb curiously that only rose up into the air until it reached the ceiling. When the orb hit the ceiling, it flashed a light so bright the Cures shielded their eyes out of impulse. After that, the orb returned to Rubix's palm, though it hardly fit into it until the orb bursted into pieces that looked like snow. Rubix blew the orbs pieces out of her hands and they scattered back onto the ground.

"Was this...some kind of dud?" Dolly asked quietly as she inspected the flakes in the air before she took a look at Rubix.

"Guys look!" Bubbly instructed as she pointed to the flakes in the air. The flakes that had once resembled snow turned black and scattering around the Cures.

Rubix then returned to the ground and finally gave the girls an explanation.

"I was never really going to send you girls off to another dimension. You're all far too valuable for something that." Rubix declared as she waved a hand in dismissal," I'm going to corrupt each of your Patchwork Hearts, and then I'll be harvesting them."

The Cures just stared at Rubix, at a loss of words while she laughed at them.

"Congratulations, you've made it this far into your final battle and as far as I can see, you've all exhausted your strengths. Don't feel so bad, there was absolutely no way you could've prepared yourself from something like this." Rubix claimed with a shrug," When matched against me, your defeat was as certain as the sun rising."

The Cures weren't able to even move an inch, not only because of lacking the stamina for it, but Rubix's words had gotten to them.

Fantasy wasn't responsive, a glazed look only appearing in her eyes as she hung her head. Bubbly only looked around to check on her teammates, more worried about them than herself. She could feel her heart sink as she saw all their dejected expressions, wishing she had power over Rubix to make her pay for hurting the kingdom and her friends like this.

Teddy was not yet willing to accept defeat as she grabbed a hold of her scepter, desperately trying to get some kind of attack, anything to use against Rubix.

Teddy held her scepter tight with both her hands, shakily getting back up to her feet as she declared," I swear I'm going to put an end to you for all the suffering you've caused to the people I hold dear.. I'm taking you out whether it's the last thing I do!"

Dolly didn't appear despondent as the rest of her team, though she wasn't quite ready to look Rubix in the eyes just yet, letting her gaze fall to the floor.

"Are you sure you want to do this Rubix? Because honestly, I'm still not all that convinced by your resolve, not to mention you'd be letting a lot of people down by doing this." Dolly pointed out to her as she slowly lifted her gaze towards Rubix," You'd been waivering since the very start, I distinctly remembered getting overwhelmed by your power the first time we met, thinking we'd get defeated out of nowhere but then...you spared us that day. You've proven time and time again that you're more than able to get rid of us, but you can't even bring yourself to do that."

"There's inconsistencies in yourself. You may have been given comfort by Nixe when everyone deserted you, but you don't have it in your heart to defeat a fellow Pretty Cure." Dolly said as she stood up slowly, placing her hands on your hips," You've been continuously rejecting your former self, but she's had more influence on the kingdom and even our own world than you think."

Dolly then reached for her PlayPact and whispered to it," Show Rubix Cure Cheer's legacy, Pretend Mode."

" _Rubix, you can't continue to waste time like this, these girls have nothing important to show you and you know that."_ Nixe advised Rubix from her head,

"I only want to further humor them, this should be entertaining for the both of us anyways." Rubix responded quietly.

The PlayPact projected a giant image stretching from one end of the room to the other of the kingdom, looking just as it always did, but the sight of it only bored Rubix and led her to offering her own commentary.

"Is this all you have to show me, the kingdom that gave up on me?" Rubix questioned with a scoff.

"You're not looking at it properly." Teddy replied flatly as she side-eyed Rubix," This was the kingdom after it had been saved by you. If it wasn't for you, your home would've been destroyed by Nixe ages ago."

"I get it, I saved a kingdom that didn't bother to save me, how heroic." Rubix said sarcastically, though she couldn't bring herself to look at the projection," A tragic hero, that's all my legacy will be and that's only what people will see me as."

"Nope." Dolly said with a single shake of her face," You brought hope to not only your own home, but ours too."

The PlayPact then projected an image of a large group of children reading the Lost Kingdom of Toys books in the library. Rubix scrutinized the image, unable to understand exactly what she was seeing.

"Sooooo, there was this woman from the kingdom who wrote some stories about her home and she went as far as including you as the heroine in one of the books. So now kids on Earth have taken a liking to you and may or may not think you're one of the coolest superheroes out there." Bubbly explained as she held her hands in front of the projection.

The name Lost Kingdom of Toys sounded quite familiar to her, but she didn't focus on that as much as the sight of the kids reading the story and getting excited as they got to Cure Cheer's part.

" _This is the part where she beats up the bad guy! She always saves the day with a big smile on her face," A little girl declared as she held out her copy of the book to her friends to show the picture of Cure Cheer," If I can get the chance, I'd really like to meet her someday!"_

Dolly glanced over to Rubix, who didn't appear all that affected as she hoped. She didn't mind all that much, she knew getting through to her wouldn't happen in an instant.

"Not only has Cure Cheer inspired kids and adults alike in the two kingdoms, but she gave hope to a young girl who aspired to be just like her someday." Dolly stated, leading Fantasy to offer her a puzzled look," That very same girl got the chance to become a Pretty Cure just like her idol, and despite learning about Cure Cheer's fate, she still doesn't want to fight against the person she admired all her life."

"Fantasy has nothing but magic to rely on when it comes to fighting as a Pretty Cure and yet despite the fact that she probably has just enough power for one last attack against you…she probably won't." Dolly claimed, though Rubix didn't seem all that convinced.

"I...I'll have you know I'm not scared of you!" Fantasy blurted out, her tone uneven while her face flushed red," I...I've just been having a hard time accepting that this is what's become of the person I looked up to most."

Fantasy's eyes met Rubix's and she thought she'd see a look of disdain from Rubix but instead her expression was neutral as if she was waiting for Fantasy to continue speaking. The thought of blathering on about how much she admired Cure Cheer over the years was beyond embarrassing, but she didn't see any other options available so she took one giant breath before she began.

"When I was young I'd always be playing pretend at home and every time I did I was pretending to be Cure Cheer. It drove my parents crazy but I didn't care and kept doing it until my last year of elementary, from there I'd casually write down the adventures I had as 'Cure Cheer'." Fantasy explained as she created her own projections on the ceiling that depicted her younger self jumping off of a couch," Before I'd play pretend as Cure Cheer, I had an imaginary friend I modeled after her, though her personality may not have been completely accurate, but I kept hold of that imaginary friend for much longer than expected, to a point where having her around made me feel like I had always been friends with Cure Cheer. And then, when I became a Pretty Cure, my only goal in my mind was to become just like you, because well...being like Cure Cheer meant everything to me."

"But I've been selfish, I know that Cure Cheer, well your...former self, definitely wouldn't have approved of my actions right now. I'm only thinking of what I want, and choosing to ignore everything you've done up until now." Fantasy declared as she held out her scepter," I won't let you off the hook anymore!"

The everso irritated, impatient look in Rubix's eye was replaced with a more complacent and somber look. She appeared to be thinking deeply to herself, though she had zoned out on Fantasy. Fantasy reddened a bit, from getting stared at for so long. But nobody chose to interrupt her train of thought in this deciding moment.

"Nixe, did you know about this?" Rubix finally asked," That this had been cultivated in my absence?"

"How was I supposed to know?" Nixe questioned, their voice echoing through the room," Regardless, nobody came looking for you, you had been left for dead. If it wasn't for me-"

"-You said I'd find happiness that wouldn't end here. You conditioned into thinking that there wasn't anything left for me in the kingdom. That I would have no one to return to." Rubix reminded them, who only grew impatient with Rubix and her tone.

Teddy then chimed in with," I can guarantee you that's most definitely not true. In fact, there are actually quite a few people you left back in the kingdom still waiting for you to return after all this time and I know some select few people on Earth who'd be overjoyed to reunite with you.."

"Earth?" Rubix repeated cluelessly before she dropped to her knees, holding her head as a sharp pain struck through it.

"I refuse to watch you fall further into these girls' ploy," Nixe concluded while Rubix tried tuning out their voice," Because of you, it's come down to this."

Rubix shook her head, the pain only getting worse and worse as she said," This is my own fault, I wasn't meant for this...my past self even tried getting me to come to my senses by projecting flashbacks of my old life, but I was sure the person who I am now was who I was supposed to be. You promised me a new life and led me to believe my old one wasn't worth continuing. But Nixe...I can't let everyone look up to a traitor. I'm sorry Nixe, I just can't do this for you."

"At this point, you don't get a say in what you can or can't do. I'm taking over from here." Nixe declared from inside Rubix's head," Remember, you had everything at hand's reach and you didn't even need most of my power for that."

The Cures cautiously stepped a few feet away from Rubix who's corrupted magic seemed to only get stronger as she became more unstable.

"Rubix is trying everything to reject Nixe's influence, but it's not working." Dolly said as she watched Rubix," We have to help out!"

Rubix tilted her head back for a moment and a giant shroud of black mist formed around her. The mist took on a more solid form around her and morphed into a humanoid appearance. The figure that enveloped Rubix was still sitting down and once it stood up, it stretched past the ceiling but had no issue in breaking the ceiling apart just so it had more room.

"That thing is like 40 feet tall! How are we supposed to fight against something we'll look like ants to?" Teddy questioned as she gestured towards the figure.

Dolly looks towards the figure, shaking her head as she looked at the torn up ceiling where the projections had been.

"After all this, it seems Nixe couldn't care less about Rubix's feelings." Dolly declared as she watched the figure," Actually, no, they never cared for her. Not if they're willing to let her suffer like this."

The figure then slammed it's hand into the wall and it's fist broke it apart. They held out their hand as if they were grabbing for something and looked at the wall inquisitively.

The Deluxsor had grown impatient, and decided against what would've been wise and fought to retrieve the Patchwork Heart from Hayase.

Lillith had put up a shield of sorts around the well to keep the Deluxsor away, but it was attempting to physically break apart the shield. It wouldn't have been long now until the shield was broken and Hayase would be left defenseless.

" _I'm running out of options...I might have to actually go through with what I said."_ Hayase said as he gripped the well even tighter.

"I can't keep up with it! At this rate, it's going to get a hold of the heart and Hayase!" Lillith said as she and Jack watched Hayase back up closer into the well.

Jack shook his head and called out," Don't you try running away, you gotta fight it back!"

The shield finally snapped apart into pieces and Hayase looked up to the Deluxsor with a blank look in his eye. He stood petrified, feeling defeated even though he was still in possession of the Patchwork Heart.

"Me, fight against it? There's no way that would work, I don't stand a chance against it." Hayase said to himself quietly," But...if I were to jump into the well, then I wouldn't be protecting Kai's Patchwork Heart, the heart that Arabella wanted us to reclaim more than anything."

Hayase had zero clue on how to attack, but he then remembered his attempts to break free from the Everlight encasement. Right now, he didn't have the time to overanalyze or overthink, all that was left was to trust in his own abilities.

"This is gonna sound like I thought of it on the spot but…" Hayase said as he extended his hand out," Azure Supernova!"

A dark blue beam of stars shot the Deluxsor straight on, but it didn't even get a chance to recover from the attack as a giant hand broke through the wall and took the Deluxsor away.

The three of them exchanged expressions and Lillith surmised," Nixe is pulling out all the stops, the Pretty Cure have left them at wit's end."

"With all these hidden aces, are the Pretty Cure going to be alright?" Jack questioned nervously.

The figure pulled its hand out from the wall, feeling only a little bit energized as it fused with the Deluxsor.

"So my equipment's been used…" The figure said to itself as it inspected its palm," It's a shame Rubix fell victim to the likes of you girls, but I guess once a Pretty Cure, always a Pretty Cure."

"You...you used Rubix for your own gain! She never even realized how you wouldn't put her feelings into consideration, all you did was feed off her misery!" Dolly shouted to them.

The figure seemed irritated by Dolly and leaned towards her, appearing much more intimidating up close as they asked," Need I remind you that you too hadn't cared for Rubix's wellbeing until you discovered her true identity? If you never learned about her past, you would've just fought her with as much hatred as you always did. And maybe then you would've stood a chance to defeat her."

"Trying to defeat her would've been pointless, and we wouldn't have gotten anywhere if that was our goal." Teddy spoke up as she stepped forward," Rubix was hurting this whole time and she wanted someone to empathize for her, not offer her a solution that would only hurt her more."

The figure then grabbed a hold of Cure Dolly and Teddy and threw them into one of the few walls that remained intact in the room.

"That girl always punished on her own, cursed to be unappreciated, unwanted and used up for her strengths until the very end." The figure said to them," Nobody truly wanted Rubix until she had disappeared. But lucky for her, her struggling ends here, along with yours."

Bubbly tried running towards Dolly and Teddy, but Fantasy stopped her by grabbing a hold of her wrist.

"What do you plan to do after you retrieve them, fight against Nixe in this condition?" Fantasy questioned quietly, her eyes vacant as she held Bubbly tighter.

"If we don't at least try, then we're done for! But I can't let this team go down without a proper fight!" Bubbly declared as she then tried pulling Fantasy up," Cure Cheer is still alive and she wants us to save her, we don't have anything else to lose!"

Bubbly managed to pull Fantasy off of her feet and the two of them ran to their teammates while barely dodging the hands of Nixe.

"Fantasy, your hero is still alive and you have a chance to do what she did for your mom's kingdom years ago. Doesn't that fill up with adrenaline and make you want to try even harder?" Bubbly asked as they continued to run.

Fantasy looked down at the ground for a moment, knowing that Bubbly had a point.

The two of them reached Dolly and Teddy who yet to separate themselves from the wall they collided against. Their exhausted expressions were telling, they didn't have a lot of fight left in them.

"Can you guys stand?" Bubbly asked as she knelt next to them.

"We've been trying to…" Teddy answered as she continued to struggle to her feet," It feels like Nixe went and broke some bones."

"At this point, they're just fighting us for their own amusement. Nixe is certain we can't do anything in the condition we're in." Dolly stated as she found herself having difficulty breathing,"We have to try a purification attack, we don't have any other choices left."

"But it won't happen if we don't have any power left to perform it." Teddy reminded her impatiently.

"I don't care, there's nothing left we can do!" Dolly pointed out to her, her tone much more impatient than expected.

Just then, a light appeared before the Cures that disappeared moments after, revealing a view of the human world where a bunch of kids and living plush toys were standing at a fountain with Bounce and the fairies standing in the center atop the fountain.

Bounce and the fairies held out four keys and a portal showing them the Pretty Cure appeared. The kids were bewildered and stared at the portal but Bounce only grinned and tossed the keys into the portal as she shouted,

"We're counting on you!"

The keys flew up into the air before the Cures before dropping into their hands.

"New toy toppers…? Just how did Bounce and the fairies get a hold of these things?" Dolly asked before the four keys projected an image to the Cures.

" _We finished making our key!" One kid standing at the fountain yelled as they held out a key made from sticks, tied with leaves and tin foil._

" _Amazing!" Bounce remarked as she took the "key" from the child's hand lowering her voice to a whisper," It looks like it came from a trash can."_

" _We finished ours too!" Another group declared, holding out a key created from rolled up paper and decorated with pencil crayons._

" _We're done too!" Yet another group yelled as they presented a key made from clay that was decorated with dandelions._

" _Us too!" The final group shouted as they gave Bounce a key made out of an emptied water bottle decorated with markers._

" _Alright, these will do just fine!" Bounce declared to the children," Good job team!"_

" _Will these actually work?" Bounce whispered to the fairies, who nodded in response._

 _Rani then gestured Bounce over the fountain and Bounce sighed, nodding as the fairies already told her what to do._

" _Well of wonder, we ask only for your help in helping the Pretty Cure." Bounce said as she folded her hands together, internally cringing at what she was saying," Please infuse these keys with magic powerful enough to defeat Nixe and save the Pretty Cure, all of them."_

 _The keys that had been placed on the ledge were now floating up and were each bathed in a bright light. Once the light disappeared, each key took on a new form, looking a bit more presentable and usable for the Pretty Cure. The kids cheered excitedly and Bounce grabbed a hold of the keys as a portal to Asperity opened in the sky._

"The kids and their plushmates...made these for us?" Fantasy questioned as she took a closer look at the key in her hand.

Dolly took one last more look at the key before she clutched it tight in her hands, saying," We won't let their efforts go to waste, come on!"

Dolly stood up and held out her scepter, urging the rest of the team to follow suit.

"Playtime begins! Patchwork Form Deluxe!" The four of them shouted in unison as they put the keys into their scepters.

The four Cures received an upgrade from their already upgraded outfits, their uniforms turning white and gold and detailed with much more lace than before.

"Wow, I didn't really think we could get an outfit cuter than the original Patchwork form!" Bubbly remarked as she twirled around to fully inspect the upgraded outfit.

Dolly felt her heart begin to race, and she felt the wounds from before healing themselves. She didn't feel good as new, she felt much better than that. She had never felt so much power flow through her until now, it made her worry if she'd be able to withstand the power for long. No, they didn't need to do that, the girls wouldn't allow this fight to go on much longer anyways.

"Nixe, it's the end of the line for you!" Dolly shouted out as she and the Cures jumped up high, getting to Nixe's eye level.

"What, you think a new set of clothes will help you stop me? That's by far the most Pretty Cure thing you could ever say!" Nixe cackled as they extended their arm towards the Cures, but their hand had been repelled by a mysterious force.

"I think we can both agree this has gone on long enough, right?" Dolly said as she held out her scepter," Your actions have had a ripple effect, hurting people even outside the kingdom, altering their lives for the worse. But, you're finally going to get what you deserve after all this time."

"Honestly, I can't stand to watch you girls act so high and mighty, especially you leader, whilst forgetting I've yet to even use half of my own power." Nixe claimed haughtily," If anything, it'll be you four who shall get what you deserve!"

"We'll see about that!" Bubbly responded as she twirled her scepter around," I'll bet by the time we're through with you'll there won't be anything of you left!"

"You've hurt the people we cared about for far too long, and we won't let you get away with that anymore." Teddy declared as she held out her scepter.

"I want to restore and create the kingdom anew, I want the kingdom to be a place people can live in happily or come and go as they please without worrying they'll never see the kingdom again." Fantasy claimed as she took a deep breath," But that can't be done with you around!"

The four of them held their scepters up high, and shouted in unison,

"Pretty Cure, Eternal Playtime Oasis!"

A massive ray of multicoloured light held by purple, gold, blue and white rings was launched straight towards Nixe. Nixe held their hands in front of themselves in defense, trying to shield themselves from the Cures attack.

"They can't go on like this forever, they'll be drained of their powers and I'll remain triumphant!" Nixe exclaimed, though they weren't having it easy trying to fend the attack off.

"No Nixe, we're not giving in until you've met your defeat!" Dolly cried out as she clutched her scepter as tight as she could.

"Then in that case, we'll just be going at it for an eternity, clearly you girls have yet to comprehend the extent of my powers!" Nixe shouted, though slowly, their body was vanishing on them.

The Cures attack only got stronger and Nixe wasn't able to keep up their defense for long.

"No, I absolutely refuse to be overpowered by a group of children who weren't even a match for Cure Cheer, this isn't happening!" Nixe shouted in desperation," I won't be defeated by children who couldn't defeat the one who only had a taste of my magic, this is absolute anarchy, I won't stand for this!"

Nixe finally disappeared completely and all that was left in their place was Rubix, lying on the floor unconscious.

The team fell utterly silent for a few moments, the four of them still in disbelief of what had just happened.

A few moments passed and finally, Cure Bubbly exclaimed," We did it!"

The Cures cheered and hugged each other, in both complete relief and joy. Their efforts weren't wasted, they actually saved the kingdom.

Teddy then knelt next to Rubix and wondered what things would be like after this.


	42. Epilogue

The team returned to the kingdom along with Jack, Lilith, Hayase, River, Arabella and Kai.

Arabella had locked herself in her bedroom and refused to come out until she was ready, feeling beyond miserable that she was back here in the kingdom, though everyone else felt otherwise.

Her sisters wanted to see her and begged her to leave her room, but she didn't pay any mind to them, only allowing her plushmate and River in.

"You know they've missed you a lot, right?" River asked her as he leaned against the door, with Arabella's plushmate Slyvia mirroring his pose .

"They're only going to be upset when I break the news to them." Arabella pointed out with a shrug," I don't think they'll want to see much of me after that."

"Are you serious Princess Arabella? As soon as they get word of your departure, they'll cling onto every second they can get with you, they may not even let you leave!"

Arabella closed her eyes and shook her head once saying in irritation, "That's another reason why I don't wish to see them. I'm certain they wouldn't approve of me continuing my life on Earth working at a cafe, but frankly...there's nothing else I'd rather do. "

River didn't say anything in response and only felt sorry for the princess, knowing that this likely wasn't the only thing bothering her.

Sterling had disappeared once they all returned to the kingdom. He was supposed to have gone to the hospital to receive some checkups as it had been reported he got hurt trying to protect Bounce from Rubix and was out cold for a while. But he refused and snuck out of the palace. It was upsetting but the thing that unnerved River the most about the ordeal was how Sterling kept a genuine smile on his face the whole time.

" _I'm sure he ran off to Lillith, but...if that was what really happened, Sterling must have a lot of forgiveness in him to do such a thing. Either that or he was really miserable here without her."_ River thought to himself, _" If the royal family had been more accepting of Lillith, none of this would've happened. But then...neither would've Arabella or her sisters. I can't even imagine how hurt they must be from their father's actions."_

Arabella then walked over to the window of her bedroom and said," It's a shame Danica doesn't want to rule over the kingdom. Not that I think she'd be a good queen but well...beggars can't be choosers. She's even older than me by a couple of months too."

Arabella then removed her gaze from the window and then looked over to River saying," I would like to go see Kai in the hospital, can we go do that?"

River looked at her blankly for a few moments, surprised by Arabella's sudden request, but then smiled at her and led her out of the room.

Mari had her body pressed against the door to Cure Cheer's room in the hospital, glaring daggers at Hayase who had been allowed in as he was immediate family.

"That lucky bastard…" Mari muttered to herself as she pressed hands against the glass window on the door," He's barely in any condition to be up and moving around."

 _Two days earlier, right after the attack, Hayase was in a hospital room of his own. The sudden intense exertion of his powers managed to leave his system in a state of shock and he had been out cold for a whole day. But, after a day's worth of rest and a few physical examinations, the doctors declared that Hayase was good to go. Though a few of the nurses were incredulous that his condition was brought on by a fight like his considering the amount of magic he had._

Hayase continued to wait at Cheer's bedside as the nurse in the room rearranged some items on her side table. Hayase didn't quite like this nurse, Belinda. Not after what she said about him the day before while he was still in her care.

" _Ah, Belinda! Just who I wanted to see." Imogen said as she smiled to her," How are your patients doing?"_

" _They're doing fine, on their way to a speedy recovery!" Belinda beamed confidently," But...this is a bit unexpected. For Hayase at least, a boy with a wealth of magic flowing within him and has no clue how to use any of it."_

 _Imogen already didn't like where this was going and just when he was going to steer her away from the topic, Belinda continued on._

" _A mage injured terribly in battle and all because he doesn't know how to use his own magic! It's unthinkable. You know, I blame the parents. He told me he's lived in the human world all his life so it's no surprise he can't use his powers as he's supposed to. What were they thinking, practically taking him away from his home land! He may look like his sister, but his powers are lacking."_

" _Belinda, you know it's not his fault and perhaps his parents had their reasons for leaving when they did. I'm sure they left with good intentions, not to hurt their sons." Imogen reassured._

 _Belinda double-blinked, repeating," Sons?"_

" _Oh my god, I better not be seeing a corpse in room 104!" Hayase's brother Toya shouted from the opposite end of the hall, bolting into Hayase's room._

Hayase's mother Hana and Toya were also here at the hospital, waiting for Cheer to awake. The two of them had been just as nervous to finally meet her, but Hayase reassured them everything would be fine. They stepped out for a bit and told Hayase they'd return shortly, so now he was just left in the room with Cure Cheer. Belinda smiled at Hayase once she took her leave and Hayase offered a fake smile back to her.

Just then, Cheer slowly rose up from her bed, sitting upright as she looked down at her lap for a few moments. She then looked around the room and then asked Hayase,

"I don't remember anything that happened, it sorta hurts to try to recall events." Cheer said, her voice groggy," Do you have any idea what I'm doing here?"

Hayase stared at her for a few moments, somewhat taken aback by the uncanny resemblance they shared and cleared his throat, saying,

"It's been nineteen years since you fought Nixe." Hayase debriefed bluntly," Before you could defeat them, the Well of Wonder opened up and you fell in. Nobody realized the well was holding you captive but, everyone mourned for you. Especially your family. I always thought you were really cool, but I wasn't allowed to say such things in front of mom and dad. Regardless, it's nice to finally meet you, Misora."

She looked at him curiously, tilting her head slightly as she'd to piece together what exactly he said to her. She then noticed the physical similarities they shared, he was almost like a male version of herself and leapt off the bed and inspected him further.

Hayase was startled, jumping back slightly as Misora got up in his face as she asked him," You look just like me...are we...I have a little brother?"

"No, actually...you have two." Hayase rectified curtly, just as his mom and Toya walked into the room, with Mari still glowering at the doorway.

Hana dropped the bag of groceries in hand and Toya then approached the two of them, pulling them both in for a hug.

"We may not have grown up together or even be full siblings, but that doesn't matter! We still think you're the coolest sister to have ever lived." Toya declared, with Misora nodding in response.

Jack and Bounce were standing at a grave, both of them with their hands folded to pay their respects.

"Despite the fact that we're not in the clear in the clear just yet...we did luck out." Jack pointed out stiffly as he opened his eyes, thinking back to the events that transpired these past few days.

" _We aren't leaving just yet!" Jack and Bounce said in unison, tugging onto Sterling's sleeve as the group gathered around. Everyone was readying for their departure but Sterling had noticed that Lillith wasn't with them._

" _No man gets left behind, even if they are currently made out nuts and bolts." Jack declared to Sterling. Sterling had just woken up, and while he hadn't been made fully aware of all the details of the current situation just yet, he could tell that whatever had been troubling Bounce and Jack was undoubtedly important to them._

 _Sterling turned and told the great of them he'd regroup with them later. Jack took the lead, taking the group to the place where Domino's remains were._

 _Lillith was in the room, kneeling next to Domino who had his body restored to normal, but he had been lying unconscious this whole time._

" _His heartbeat is getting faint...it's no surprise after all he's been through." Lillith debriefed with a grim look on her face as her eyes met Jack's, " We need the kingdom's hospital to tend to him."_

" _Of course...we'll make sure he gets treated as soon as possible." Sterling reassured, but what he hadn't expected was the cheers that came from Jack and Bounce, the latter hugging him tight in response._

" _You're seriously gonna help us out?! After all we've done?" Bounce questioned as she looked up towards him._

" _Well, why wouldn't I? You guys are my family...no matter what you've done." Sterling explained to them, his originally tense expression replaced with a smile," Of course, we need to figure out something to have you guys make up for what happened, but I don't want to focus on that right now. I much prefer to catch up with you all."_

Domino had been in intensive care at the hospital in the kingdom, but after a few days, he appeared to be on his way to certain recovery.

"I'll admit, this feels odd...coming to the late prince Theo's grave since the only one that met him was Lillith just before he passed. But, according to Lilli, he wasn't that bad." Jack affirmed as he looked down at the grave," He apparently was very supportive of your parents' relationship and wanted them together very much."

Bounce nodded in response, through her eyes set on the grave were listless, and it seemed Jack's words didn't reach her. Jack furrowed his brows as he glanced to Bounce, whose expression and overall atmosphere had been somber since they set foot in the kingdom.

" _This is her first time here in the kingdom. Can't really blame her for how she's acting…"_ Jack thought to himself as Bounce squeezed her hands together," So... what's your next move, kid? You've stated on numerous occasions that you don't like Earth, despite the fact you actually have resided there for a bit and now the kingdom's yours to explore."

"I'm not sure." Bounce answered quietly," I have to think about it some more, I didn't think things would end like this so I never really thought about it. Perhaps I can live in both, that way if I can't stand living in one world for a bit, I could just head to the other."

"That'd just be escaping your problems, it won't do you much good to pick and choose like that." Jack advised her as she rolled her eyes in response," If you do end up deciding to stay on Earth...let me and Takara know, ok?"

Bounce nodded and awkward silence formed between them.

Jack then cleared his throat, saying," We may have secured a victory against Nixe, but this won't last forever."

"Are you suggesting Nixe will make a return?" Bounce questioned, though Jack didn't say anything," What would Nixe need in a host?"

"I've heard they have a preference of very strong magic but... they'll always target the bitter ones. Nixe will offer fuel to the fire, thinly veiling it as comfort and from there a new host is found." Jack explained," We might be safe for centuries, decades, but this peace won't be here to stay. Plus, ever since the well's truth has been exposed, the members of the royal family are in disarray trying to figure out how to keep the Well's Everlight from being grown and spread throughout the country."

"Ah, you didn't hear? A pair of magic guards have been elected to keep watch over the well, but more will come in the future." Bounce explained to him," For now, they want to test things out with the two to see if such a task would be manageable."

"A pair of magic guards?" Jack repeated, squinting his eyes at her.

Rani and Nova stood at the Well, wearing tiny armour, and held spears. Each of them had a pendant slung around their neck, a symbol of status in the kingdom for more reasons than one.

"The Well's Everlight is like a weed. As long as we get to it early, it won't fester and reach the mainland." Rani declared, with Nova nodding in response.

"It might be a bit taxing on the body and mind to stand here for so long, but if us doing this job means that the well won't make any Everlight, it's worth it." Nova stated firmly, though her legs were saying otherwise," But...why do you think it makes the Everlight? Do you really believe the Well is so malicious it'd try and take back the magic it created?"

"If that truly is the case...I don't think it's doing that for such a reason." Rani answered briskly," I think Everlight was originally a defense mechanism for the well. I'm certain humanity was the one to make the first attack."

"You're talking about those who tried to steal the magic in the past right?" Nova questioned in a somewhat nervous tone.

"It's still happening. If this trend of attempting to steal some of the well's magic had died out centuries ago, I doubt the well would still be producing the Everlight." Rani explained bluntly.

"You're really certain of this theory huh…" Nova said sheepishly, before the two of them heard another set of voices among them.

The two of them turned around, though it didn't do them much good since the well blocked their view.

"Somebody's here for the well." Rani declared as she held the pendant in her hand, with Nova following suit.

"Pendants of Wonder, Activate!"

Standing on the other side of the well were two men holding buckets. They looked at the well excitedly and placed their hands on it, before looking both ways to see if anyone else was around.

"Coast is clear, this magic is ours!" The taller one exclaimed.

"Are you sure you wanna do that?" A voice that sounded like Nova's asked, but it came from a fair-skinned teenaged girl with pink hair and yellow eyes. Strangely enough the girl even had on armour similar to what Nova had worn.

"You're not going to claim a drop of this Well's magic while we're around." The girl standing next to her warned ominously. She appeared to be around the same age but her hair was navy blue and had electric blue streaks through it and her skin was darker. She also had much bigger, expressive pink eyes that went dark at the sight of the two trying to steal the well's magic.

A month had passed now and Mari and Sophie could be seen with Misora in the human world in front of a laptop. The two girls were giving Misora a full demonstration on the computer, the internet and the functionality as well as its importance in today's society.

"Amazing, it's really evolved after such a short amount of time." Misora remarked as she looked over to the side of the laptop, taking note of it's compact size, " When I was on Earth, they were a lot chunkier in design, they looked prehistoric in comparison to these things."

"Right, I've been meaning to ask you…" Mari began hesitantly," Why were you on Earth? Did Nixe have enemies for you to fight here?"

"No." Misora answered plainly," I wanted to learn more about Earth, and those days, the only way to learn was to go there yourself. Well, as of now, that still is the only tried and true method. But, I just wanted to experience life as a normal Earthling. Sure, their lives must've been much different than mine, but that made me curious about a lot of things. What would Earth have that the kingdom didn't? What kind of excitement would wait for me in a world devoid of magic? There had to have been something people loved about this place if people were continuing to migrate here of their own volition. That something was probably different depending on the person. I guess I wanted to know what Earth had to offer for me."

"That's true, despite the fact that there's some overlap, there's a lot of diversity in our world." Sophie said as she glanced towards the window in Misora's room," Earth is vast, filled with different kinds of people, all sorts of opportunities. I've heard of this emotion...the name of it escapes me, but it's a sense of disappointment knowing that you can only inhibit one place in each moment yet there's so much more to discover. But you're bound to one body."

"You plan to defy these odds in your own way though, you shouldn't get down about what can't be helped." Mari said to her softly as she put her arm around Sophie's shoulder.

Misora wore a confused expression on her face, so Sophie began to explain herself.

"I'll be moving in the fall. I'll be living in Paris for a couple of years." Sophie confessed with a confident smile," I...I have a friend who's doing an exchange program there, she's a fellow model and well, there's a lot of opportunity in Europe so...I thought I'd give it a shot. I've been shying away from modeling these last few months so I figured this would be an interesting way to set myself straight. Plus, there's also a lot to experience in Paris. If modeling doesn't speak to me there, then it's fine. I'm sure something else will."

Misora nodded in response and glanced over to Mari saying," You're in your final year for high school right? What do you plan on doing after that?"

"I'll be studying early childhood education, then behavioural sciences. Nothing too fancy." Mari admitted sheepishly, though the two of them seemed a bit puzzled by Mari's response," What?"

"You aren't studying photography?" Sophie questioned as she took a step closer to Mari as an alarmed look appeared on her face.

"You won't live in the kingdom?" Misora asked, her tone sounding concerned.

Mari then waved her hands in dismissal, believing that the two of them thought her parents were against her doing so and she responded with," I didn't get accepted for photography, so it might just remain a hobby, which I honestly don't mind. And don't worry! It's not like I'm being held against my will here on Earth. Um...I think it'd be nice to spend a couple weeks there at a time like during summer vacation, but for now...I don't see myself living in the kingdom. Earth is my home, and the only reason it hadn't felt that way to me was because I lived in my mind. The kingdom I knew before I was a Pretty Cure and the kingdom I know now are two very different places. I like them both, but I always envisioned the kingdom as some kind of hidden paradise. But no, it's a real place, with real people. I chose to make myself feel out of place on Earth because I was so hung up over my daydreams, but reality can be harsh. I never wanted to go to the kingdom to connect with my roots but rather...I just wanted to escape the home I chose not to appreciate. Leaving for the kingdom would've been somewhat of a selfish decision if I just to leave behind the home I've been taking for granted. So on Earth I'll stay."

Misora and Sophie nodded in response, impressed by Mari's answer.

"As eloquent as always." Sophie remarked with a sigh," It's too bad we haven't been able to spend these last few weeks with Kiriko and Asuna though."

"Yeah, the two of them seem awfully busy." Misora pointed out worriedly," Kiriko, I can understand as you two mentioned she was on student council and in her third year, but what's Asuna up to?"

Mari only shrugged, having no desire to voice her thoughts and looked casually to the laptop to direct the conversation away from Asuna.

" _I don't wanna accuse Asuna of avoiding us, but she's been MIA for awhile now. I don't think any of us have even heard from her in two weeks."_ Mari thought to herself as she showed Misora her favourite apps on the laptop, _" But whatever she's caught up in, I'm sure it's important to her."_

"You! Have! To!" Asuna said as she tried dragging Hayase out to the back porch, with little avail as she had the upper-body strength of a shaky leaf. Hayase wouldn't budge though he was only one step away from the outdoors, his hair still bubblegum pink with purple and teal streaks laced through it.

"No! I! Don't!" Hayase said as he tried to pry Asuna off of himself," This is a bad idea, let's just call it off."

"Nope, not happening!" Asuna proclaimed as she gripped his arm much tighter, to the point where her nails lightly grazed his skin," I'm telling Tadashi my secret and your telling him yours."

"I don't quite see the point in this if I'm being honest." Hayase admitted with a sigh,"There isn't much point in him learning about this whole Pretty Cure and toy kingdom thing after the fact."

Asuna shook her head and responded with," That's not true. If we tell him, Tadashi won't feel left out anymore."

"Left out?" Hayase repeated curiously.

"You didn't notice?" Asuna asked, a bitter, pained smile appeared on her face as she stopped pulling his arm for a moment and only stared at the ground," Despite the appearance, Tadashi isn't stupid. Wouldn't you have thought something was going on if your fellow council member started spending more time with your younger sister and your best friend started acting evasively? Like everyone was holding out on some giant secret?"

"I'm sure we've been hurting Tadashi with hiding all of this, and I'm sure he wouldn't tell anyone. My brother isn't someone you'd have to worry about, and you know that better than anyone." Asuna claimed, looking up to Hayase.

" _I thought being this close to him would leave me a nervous wreck, but...I don't feel anything, well maybe concern I guess…"_ Asuna thought to herself _," I hope I'm not subconsciously turned off by his appearance."_

An idea came to Asuna, leading her to run towards her back on the bench and retrieve a book she had been keeping in there for months now still in it's plastic wrapping.

"If you won't listen to reason, what about an offer you wouldn't refuse?" Asuna said as she held out the book to him.

Hayase took the book in his hands, and looked at it closely.

"Is this the Cosmos the Absolute Collector's Edition? This had to have cost a lot, especially on your budget." Hayase remarked as he tried to peel off the wrapping.

"Are you calling me broke?"

"That's not what I said."

"Hayase, Toya? Anybody home?" The two of them heard Tadashi shout from the front.

"No take backs!" Asuna declared in a rush as she ran inside to open the door for him.

Hayase had an uncertain look on his face as he took one final glance at the book Asuna gave him, thinking to himself," _It's not that I don't trust him to keep a secret, I'm more worried he'll begin to treat me differently._

"This past couple of weeks may have left you feeling frustrated, perhaps even angry with yours truly and a certain student council president." Asuna said as she led Tadashi into the backyard," Totally understandable! And because we trust you and know you wouldn't do anything malicious behind our backs, we've decided to come clean."

Tadashi rolled his eyes, somewhat unimpressed with Asuna's introduction as he said with a scoff, "What, are y'all finally da...ting?."

Hayase was sitting on the bench and waved towards Tadashi.

Asuna then pulled out her defunct PlayPact from her pocket and held it out before Tadashi, explaining with," For the past couple of months, I fought as a Pretty Cure. Basically, I had to fight monsters that were appearing around town in a ridiculously girly outfit. Anyways, our goal was to save the Kingdom of Toys, the magical kingdom where Hayase is originally from."

Tadashi stood completely still for a few moments, still trying to process everything. He then plucked the PlayPact out of Asuna's hands and walked towards Hayase, taking a seat next to him.

"Is all this true?" Tadashi asked patiently as he held Asuna's PlayPact up to the light.

Hayase then pointed to the PlayPact and shot a tiny bright blue beam of light at it, causing the PlayPact to float higher and hover a few feet above the two of them.

"It is." Hayase answered, no longer feeling as tense as before while Tadashi looked up to the PlayPact in bewilderment.

Asuna smiled a small smile to herself, never in her life did she expect to feel so much relief while in the present of the two who she'd neglect during her childhood. A lot had happened during these last couple of months and it led Asuna to feel unsatisfied with a few things.

" _Thank you for everything you've done in this final battle. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have accepted this part of me." Hayase said to her when they were at the hospital in the kingdom. Despite the kind words, Hayase's gaze couldn't reach Asuna and he only looked dejected as he sat in front of her. Asuna didn't say a word, well aware of how cluttered his thoughts must have been. He hadn't really been acting himself since he got here either. The once smug, friendly and somewhat charming Hayase had fallen timid, and the weird thing was...he seemed to have already noticed the behavioural changes but did nothing to correct it. Hayase was always one to maintain appearances but after today's events, he just didn't seem to care._

Hayase wasn't being as stuck-up around her, which was nice, but right now he seemed to be in his own little world. He probably would've appreciated it more if Asuna was willing to provide the support he needed right now.

But as of right now, it seemed like Hayase would've been one of the few friends she'd be able to keep by the end of the school year.

Misa stopped talking to her, and so did Amari, Tomoko and Sakuya. Once Misa was done with her, she made it a point to make sure the rest of the group separated from her. Though Misa didn't have to do much convincing, they were already in agreement that Asuna shouldn't have been someone to keep around. At least Reo and Yutaro chose to stay by Asuna.

Asuna may not have seen it coming, but she wasn't all that surprised by the turn of events. Looking back on the last couple of weeks and the lack of interest and effort Asuna had been putting towards Misa's plans, it was only a matter of time before Misa had enough. The problem was that Misa suspected Asuna of not trusting her, and while that wasn't true, Asuna couldn't back up her claim. But by the end of it all, she didn't feel all that bad for losing Misa and the rest of the group. She felt Misa was in the right by making the decision to leave, especially after how she treated her. Plus, she had friends that she valued more, people who she knew cared about her no matter how distant or troubled she seemed to be. Asuna stepped inside for a moment and took out her phone in the kitchen. She stared at it for a few moments before she sighed and dialed up a number. She hated phone calls but this message was one she felt needed to be heard, not read.

" _Hello?"_ Kiriko greeted her from the other side of the line, though it sounded as if she suspected Asuna to have been calling her by mistake.

"Hey, I just wanted to call and talk about something," Asuna responded," Do you have a minute?"

" _Um...sure, but let's not go for too long."_ Kiriko advised curtly, with Asuna nodding in response, forgetting she was on a call.

"I just wanted to say...thanks. For being a good leader for the team and keeping us from quitting during that final battle. You kept working hard and did everything you could even though you felt like we didn't stand a chance against Nixe. That takes a lot of discipline and...it makes me wonder if you felt like you had no other choice to fight back, not just because you were a Pretty Cure...but, maybe there was something more to it."

Kiriko chuckled over the phone and said _," Asuna, I'm not quite sure what you're getting at."_

"Yeah, me neither. Uh, as I was saying...Toychest Pretty Cure couldn't have had a better leader, and…"

" _And…?"_ Kiriko repeated curiously.

"You're an...ok person to be around, well better than expected I guess, I can see why Tadashi and Hayase actually don't mind being around you." Asuna replied awkwardly as she leaned against the kitchen table.

" _This might be the nicest thing she'll ever say to me…"_ Kiriko thought to herself before she chuckled while saying," _You know, I could say the same for you. I'm sure you already knew, but I was actually nervous to approach you. But I'm really glad everything turned out ok. You're good company Asuna, even though you probably don't realize it. Oh yeah, we're still good to head to the movies on Saturday?"_

"Yeah sure, remember to remind Sophie and Mari and I'll buy snacks ahead of time ok?" Asuna informed her before she hung up while glancing towards Hayase and Tadashi, who were trying to see what other tricks Hayase could perform.

Kiriko was sitting in the room where the student council would have their meetings, but with the school year coming to a close soon, all that had been left was to teach the new president, vice-president and treasurer all the standard procedures and such.

Tadashi and Hayase were running a bit late today, but Kiriko didn't quite mind as she had to room to herself for a bit.

Kiriko pulled out the election results page she had in her binder, looking over the names one more time.

"Treasurer: Hyota Osashi, Vice- President: Fuyumi Sakurai…" Kiriko read to herself quietly," And President: Misato Kaneshiro. I'm glad he won the elections."

Kiriko looked towards the clock in the classroom, there wasn't that much time left until the three of them would arrive. Kiriko sighed, wondering if she'd have enough time to head to the cafeteria to see if they were still open.

" _Maybe I could be that cool upperclassmen who orders them a pizza...I have been craving lately anyways."_ Kiriko thought to herself as her stomach growled.

Kiriko then noticed a rather petite girl with light brown hair and glasses standing in the doorway, peeking her head into the room as she said,

"Um, I know it's early but is it alright if I come in?"

Kiriko smiled at her and gestured her in as she responded," Of course, Fuyumi!"

Fuyumi nodded and then awkwardly walked into the room, originally attempting to take a seat at the back but then remembering that it'd only be a few of them in the room so she took a seat up front instead. Fuyumi had her gaze glued to the desktop for a few moments but then eventually brought her attention to Kiriko, offering her a tiny smile.

" _She's so cute!"_ Kiriko thought to herself. Fuyumi originally only wore her hair in exclusively tight buns, but ever since last month, she had started to experiment a bit and wear lots of frilled hairbows and other decorations. Everyone had been commenting on how cute they were, and she seemed happy with all the attention she had been receiving.

"You've probably been told this like a million times already, but your hair bows are quite pretty, they look good on you!" Kiriko beamed.

Fuyumi smiled in response and then said," Well, to be honest...I've liked this kind of stuff for a very long time, but I didn't think it'd fit my image all that well. But then, one day a few months back, I saw a girl about two or three times around town fighting against these...things I don't fully know what they were, but anyways, she was really cool! Not only because she was fighting to protect everyone but she had on the most adorable outfit I had seen in my entire life!"

Fuyumi took a stand from her seat and continued her explanation.

"She wore this gorgeous purple and white dress and she had long flowy blonde hair with like a dozen pink bows in it! She looked like a life-sized China Doll! No wait, a China Doll Princess!" Fuyumi gushed as she thought back to the last time she saw the girl.

"I'm sure they were other people who saw her but didn't share my opinions, probably thinking it'd be inefficient to fight in such extravagant clothes. But...she helped me learn something important." Fuyumi stated, her gaze returning to the desk as her face turned red," There isn't anything wrong with expressing yourself, and you shouldn't let other people make you think otherwise."

Kiriko thought about Fuyumi's sentiment and then nodded in agreement saying, "You're absolutely right."

From inside Kiriko's bag, a white and purple kitten plush with a quilted pattern on it could be found poking out of Kiriko's bag. It watched Kiriko begin to tell Fuyumi of the basics to being the Vice-president of the council. The kitten plush wore a tag that said "Himeko" and watched Kiriko with its undivided attention, even though her presentation wasn't all interesting.

" _We've only known each other for a little bit, but I can already tell she'll be an amazing best friend!"_ Himeko thought to herself.

 _Author's note: I guess third time's the charm! If you made it this far, you're the one who deserves a pat on the back for making to the end, not me haha_

 _As I said, this is my third finished Pretty Cure fanseries. Each one is unique in its own sense and vastly different from the other._

 _Dream High was a chance for me to immerse myself into Pretty Cure and make my story as authentic to the show as possible. It was silly and written by an innocent teenager._

 _Academia was an outlet and all I put my efforts into at the time when my world fell bleak and hopeless. It was intense and written by a troubled, lonely soul._

 _Toychest was written by the person who had always been inside the two mentioned above. My bright and bubbly self who had a love for all things cute and is a child at heart. Toychest Pretty Cure might just be my most successful attempt at a fanseries, and I'm proud of what it's become._

 _Anyways I digress, go forth and thank you for your readership! You know I treasure those who take the time to read my story and I appreciate you for all you've done!_

 _-Ryta-chan_


End file.
